The `Arthur` actor - who married the `Firework` hitmaker last October - explained the couple`s busy schedules mean they don`t get to spend as much time together as they would like, but they always clear one day each week for a date.

He said: "We see each other once a week. We meet up all the time. She`s beautiful. I love having my own little pop star. She`s brill."

Although the British funnyman admits he has "changed" after tying the knot, he insists Katy wasn`t instrumental in making him tone down his famously eccentric style.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he added: "Katy`s not like that. We wouldn`t have got married if we were a couple of bickering little snides. The skinny jeans aren`t gone for good. I like my trousers fitted - but I`m in my 30s. It`s normal to stop having a mad haircut.

"Imagine being 70 with that ludicrous nest. It`s natural passage of time. Certainly one changes as a result of marriage. If you don`t, why do it? Anything that doesn`t change you, don`t do it. It`s pointless."

Russell also revealed he is keen to start a family with Katy, but only if their children can be born in Essex, South East England, where he grew up.

He joked: "Imagine if my children didn`t have an Essex accent. I don`t think I could take it. My children have got to be born somewhere where it`s legitimate for them to support West Ham United.

"Everything makes me a little homesick. I`ve become madly patriotic."
sections: Celebrities