The following article includes mentions of suicide.
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Katy Perry undoubtedly does sometimes — as the singer has overcome more than enough obstacles throughout her pop diva reign. The Santa Barbara native may be known for her whimsical stage presence and colorful performances, but a lot of compartmentalizing goes into her artist persona. Underneath her tutus and sequin-encrusted bras exists Katheryn Hudson, an artist who broke out of a strict evangelical upbringing to become one of the greatest artists of her time.
Amid her journey to being a pop sensation, she battled messy public breakups, mental health struggles, flopped singles, and several other hurdles while spreading her message of positivity, equality, and femininity to the world. Nearly two decades after “I Kissed a Girl” put her on the map, people wonder what kind of message she will bring to the table in the coming years. Perry’s her highly-contested album, “143,” is set to be released in late September 2024, after her last record, “Smile,” proved to be a disappointment in sales. With many speculating that her career has come and gone, a lot is at stake for the mother of two and her future in the music industry.
Can the same performer who famously wiped away her tears minutes before she took the stage in her “Katy Perry: Part of Me” documentary make an epic comeback? Or will the trials and tribulations of her career mishaps put a mark on her otherwise candy-coated pop legacy? While she may be living the teenage dream at times, there’s a tragic truth to Katy Perry that exists behind her alpha persona.
Katy Perry’s family depended on food stamps when she was growing up
The Katy Perry fans know and love today was not the same girl decades ago. The singer had an incredibly difficult childhood, admitting to People that her family struggled with money growing up.
“You want to talk about food stamps? I can talk about food stamps. You want to talk about food banks? I can talk about food banks. You want to talk about busking in the street as a teenager, hoping to make $20 to cover yourself, I can talk about that too,” she told the publication. It’s the reason why Perry decided to start the Firework Foundation with her sister, Angela, in 2018, which aims to give less fortunate children an opportunity to experience the arts. The singer, who serves as president, is heavily involved in the charity’s camps, hoping to give back to kids what she didn’t have herself growing up.
“The kids know me as the girl that sang ‘Roar’ or ‘Dark Horse,’ but I hope [by the end] they [think], ‘I too can live out my dreams like Katy Perry. She’s just like me, in a lot of goofy ways,” she told the publication.
Her father thought his ministry was ‘over’ when she released I Kissed a Girl
Katy Perry described her childhood to The Irish Times as the “Jesus train,” full of Sunday school lessons and strict rules that governed her early years. With her father, Keith Hudson, a practicing pastor at the time “I Kissed a Girl” debuted, it’s no wonder why her dear ol’ dad found her first single a heavy blow. In the “Katy Perry: Part of Me” documentary (via The Christian Post), Hudson admitted he worried about his church parish and future career when the song hit the airwaves. “I was a little concerned, yeah, ’cause I thought my ministry after 30-something years is over,” Hudson explained. Nevertheless, his daughter’s persona didn’t lead to empty church pews or a rift between him and Perry. “But, you know what? Never had a problem,” he added.
The “California Gurls” singer has been incredibly candid about her shielded childhood, explaining that much of her life was controlled and monitored due to her parents’ strict religious beliefs. “I didn’t have a childhood,” she told Vanity Fair. The only book she was allowed to read was the Bible, and she was forbidden to say things like “deviled eggs” or “Dirt Devil.”
Mingling with gay individuals was also off-limits, something Perry says she made up for in waves later on in life. “I was set to think that gay people were an abomination, so I was not allowed to speak to anyone who was obviously fabulous and I was never allowed to associate with that type of people,” she said in an interview with PrideSource. Despite Perry and her parents’ differing beliefs, Keith and her mother, Mary, have championed their daughter throughout her career, often showing up at red-carpet events and supporting her immense success.
Perry’s ex-boyfriend died during a shocking crime
Katy Perry was hit with a double-whammy when she got the news that her ex-boyfriend had not just died, but was a murderer as well. “Sons of Anarchy” actor Johnny Lewis was involved in a devastating crime before plummeting to his death in 2012, with authorities claiming he beat and killed his 81-year-old landlady before jumping or falling from a Los Angeles building. His death was ruled accidental, and there were no drugs found in the toxicology report.
The artist was discovered in a driveway near Hollywood, with the woman, Catherine Davis, found dead inside the building nearby from blunt force trauma. The upstairs portion of the building he fell from had been torn apart, and a cat’s body, badly beaten, was discovered by police investigating the scene as well. Lewis had been let go from jail just a few days before the incident, after serving time for charges including assault with a deadly weapon charge and burglary.
Perry, who dated Lewis for over a year until the couple split in 2006, was reportedly “devastated” by the loss. A source claimed to Us Weekly that while Lewis “partially” inspired some of Perry’s music, his demons kept them from continuing a relationship. “She had to separate from him… to get ahead and focus on her career. He was in trouble then and she couldn’t help him,” the insider said.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Fans watched her marriage fall apart on camera
Katy Perry broke the hearts of many fans when her 2012 “Katy Perry: Part of Me” documentary premiered and showcased the breakdown of her 14-month marriage with Russell Brand. The documentary was shot while the star was in the thick of the end of her relationship with Brand, who ended their marriage with a text message before she was supposed to perform on her California Dreams tour. In one specific scene, the cameras catch Perry in tears backstage after reading the text, as thousands of fans wait and cheer her name. The “Last Friday Night” star eventually pulls herself together, slapping on a smile as she ascends to the stage after sobbing just moments before.
Brand spoke about the split in an interview with John Bishop on his show “In Conversation With…” (via Huff Post), saying, “Katy was obviously very, very occupied and busy. I was occupied and busy but not to the same degree.” He went on to explain, “The marriage didn’t last for a very long time and I think that is due to the undulating nature of fame, living in those conditions.”
But Perry has her side of the story, saying that Brand seemed to have shifting views of what he wanted in a partner. “At first when I met him he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they’re like, ‘I can’t handle it,'” she revealed in her 2013 interview with Vogue (via the Los Angeles Times). The singer also suggested that there’s more to the break-up than the public is aware of. “I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day,” she exclaimed.
Perry said Russell Brand wanted her to have children to ‘control’ her
Russell Brand and Katy Perry’s marriage may have imploded while she was on tour, but the singer says that her work schedule wasn’t the only thing he wanted control over. In an interview for Marie Claire, Perry suspected that starting a family was something her ex-husband used as a scapegoat to get her off the tour bus.
“[Brand] really wanted me to have children, and I knew I wasn’t ready — I think it was a way of control,” she said. “I think it was part of, If I have a kid, then I would have to sacrifice — I’d have to be at home more.” But Perry, known for her alpha-like attitude and strong-willed personality, wasn’t going to commit to anything for the sake of someone else’s happiness. “I really wanted to, but I knew I wasn’t ready for it. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s have a kid because we’re in love,'” she clarified.
That kind of self-love inspired her track, “Love Me,” and was part of Perry’s new way of thinking post-Brand. “If you put your self-love in someone else’s hands, then you can’t control it when it breaks or when they toss it out,” she explained. The “Teenage Dream” artist found herself working through her obstacles in therapy, and taking that into her future relationships. “I wrote something down after a session with my therapist: ‘I don’t want to lose myself in fear of losing him,'” she revealed at the time.
She was ‘broken in half’ after her initial split with Orlando Bloom
While Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have been happily engaged since 2019, their relationship hasn’t always been picture-perfect. After meeting at a Golden Globes party and going public with their relationship in 2016, the couple split up in February 2017 after over a year of seeing each other. While the two eventually reconciled and have been going strong ever since, the singer later revealed that the split was one of the hardest things she went through.
In an interview on the show, “Q with Tom Power,” the “Hot N Cold” singer admitted that she had to do some major reflections following the breakup. “I had given so much out, and it literally like kinda broke me in half,” she said of her career at the time. “I had broken up with my boyfriend, who is now my baby daddy-to-be. And then I was excited about flying high off the next record … The validation didn’t make me high, and so I just crashed.”
Eventually, however, Perry and Bloom found their firework yet again. The couple was back on a year later, making their red carpet debut (again) in September 2018. Bloom popped the question in 2019, and though their wedding has been postponed ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, the two have been growing their happy family ever since. The pair welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Daisy Dove, in 2020, and Bloom shares his teenage son, Flynn, with his ex-wife, Miranda Kerr.
Perry revealed she battled suicidal thoughts
Katy Perry opened up to her fans about the darker moments in her life in 2017, admitting she even struggled with suicidal thoughts. At the time, the singer was dealing with immense emotional turmoil and stress embodying the Katy Perry fans know and love. In an interview with therapist Siri Singh, the star revealed she cut her hair to disassociate herself from her alter ego, hoping to get back to Katheryn Hudson.
“I so badly want to be Katheryn Hudson that I don’t even want to look like Katy Perry anymore,” the “Roar” artist revealed at the time. When asked by Singh if she had ever been faced with suicidal thoughts, she responded, “Yeah, I wrote a song about it … that’s how I process.” The Grammy Award-winning artist confirmed that her song “By the Grace of God” was inspired by her working through those negative emotions and coming out the other side. Perry said she felt “ashamed” of getting to such a low point in her life, especially when so many of her fans see her as an incredibly strong woman. “I’m really strong as Katy Perry, and sometimes I’m not as strong as Katheryn Hudson,” she explained.
Eventually, the singer found her footing again and is grateful that hitting rock bottom ultimately made her whole again. “It was so important for me to be broken so that I could find my wholeness in a whole different way,” she explained in her interview with “Q with Tom Power,” adding, “And be more dimensional than just living my life like a thirsty pop star all the time.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Her career took a turn for the worse
Katy Perry hit a serious standstill in her career, failing to regain the momentum that catapulted her to pop royalty in the early 2010s. After her 2017 record, “Witness,” and her 2020 record, “Smile,” were both commercial disappointments, many speculated that Perry may have already reached her peak in the industry.
While “Witness” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the album was criticized for not having a catchy hit single, as well as for its marketing strategy being to laser focus on her former feud with Taylor Swift. With only one track being a clap-back at Swift – the single, “Swish Swish” – fans felt a bit misled by the singer. Perry’s 2020 record “Smile” didn’t fare better, with the singles on the album flopping at a time when the artist needed a big rebound. Ironically, there wasn’t much to smile about upon its premiere, given that it was met with lackluster reviews and seemed to fade away as quickly as it arrived. “Smile” produced just one top 15 track with “Never Really Over,” making it the first time Perry launched an album without a top 10 single since she tried her hand at gospel music in 2001.
The two album mishaps have cemented the notion that Perry’s career has taken a turn for the worse, as it’s been nearly a decade since the public has seen her consistently churn out record-breaking hits. It begs the question, it is “never really over” or can Perry beat the odds stacked against her for an epic comeback in the years to come?
Orlando Bloom calls his and Perry’s marriage ‘really, really, really challenging’
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom may seem like the picture-perfect couple, but the pair have faced their fair share of challenges behind the scenes. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star revealed that despite the fact that they both work in the entertainment industry, they have very different careers.
“We’re in two very different pools,” he told Flaunt Magazine. “Her pool is not a pool that I necessarily understand, and I think my pool is not a pool that she necessarily understands. Sometimes things are really, really, really, challenging. I won’t lie.” But even though they have their creative differences, Perry and Bloom seem to balance each other out just fine. The “E.T.” singer even admitted that the actor has healed her in many ways, telling Vogue India, “Orlando is like a sage. When we first met, he said we would pull the poison out of each other, and we really do.”
She grieved the loss of one of her ‘protectors’
Katy Perry mourned a devastating loss in 2024 when she revealed one of her beloved managers had passed away. The artist posted on Instagram in February that Martin Kirkup, whom she worked with at Direct Management for 20 years, had passed away. “Martin was one of my protectors,” she wrote in her post alongside a carousel her photos with Kirkup over the years. “He was vigilant about getting me what I deserved and celebrated the headstrong female I am.”
Perry credited Kirkup for helping her get to where she is today and championing her in the dog-eat-dog-world of the music industry. She also revealed that she had shared with him some of her upcoming music a few days before he died, saying that she was so grateful she had the opportunity to do so. “We didn’t get to physically say goodbye, but I know he knows how much respect and admiration I have for him, and his hearty chuckles and wicked retorts continue to echo through my mind,” Perry added.
Perry’s comeback fell flat
Katy Perry is hoping to make a big comeback with her seventh studio album, “143,” set to release in late September 2024. But the mother of one has hit several roadblocks while promoting the record, and fans are starting to wonder if the highly-anticipated record will be the third flop in a row.
The “Harleys In Hawaii” artist got the ball rolling on her “143” roll-out with the release of her single, “Woman’s World,” that July, but the track was widely ridiculed. The feminist anthem was criticized for what Perry called a “satirical” message, featuring a music video where she parades around in short shorts and mocks many of stereotypical male themes, like monster trucks and construction sites. The lyrics failed to hit home as well, including ones like: “She’s a flower, she’s a thorn / Superhuman, number one / She’s a sister, she’s a mother.”
The “Unconditionally” star had better luck with her second single, “Lifetimes,” which fans received better than “Woman’s World.” The former, albeit seemingly better liked by fans, generated controversy when the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment of the Balearic Islands claimed that Perry and her team didn’t obtain the right permissions to film the music video in the Ses Salines Natural Park. A spokesperson for Capitol Records refuted those claims, however, saying in a statement (via NBC News), “[The production company] assured us that all necessary permits for the video were secured.”
