She endured the public humiliation of being dumped via text message. Her most recent romance (including a subsequent break-up and make-up) with rocker John Mayer has been publicly scrutinised.
But Katy Perry is adamant: “I don’t want to live a life without love”.
In a revealing interview with Marie Claire magazine, Perry has opened up about the real reason behind her break-up with Russell Brand, as well as her relationship with Mayer and why she believes she has achieved such success.
“I feel like my secret magic trick that separates me from a lot of my peers is the bravery to be vulnerable and truthful and honest,” says the 29-year-old.
“I think you become more relatable when you’re vulnerable. When you try to market yourself like some supernatural figurine who can’t be f—ed with, I always resort back to Scripture: Pride comes before a fall.”
As for her split with Brand, in 2011, after 14 months of marriage, she says: “There were two weeks of my life after I found out the truth of my marriage where I was like, ‘OK, all right. I can’t feel this. This is too intense right now’. I was, like, just eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and drinking, and that’s it.”
But, after a period of self-pity and allowing herself to indulge, Perry realised she had a choice. “There are two ways you can go: you can either nurture yourself or go destructive. I have gone down the destructive path before, and that didn’t work for me,” she says.
“You dig deep beyond those scars and find that soft tissue again, and you massage and nurture it and bring it to life, little by little, through serving yourself well. I did it through hikes and vitamins and therapy and prayer and good friends.”
She began dating Mayer in August 2012, eight months after Brand filed for divorce, but the romance wasn’t smooth sailing.
“I took a break from my boyfriend, not one that I wanted,” she says. “It was like a splash of cold water to search inward on what was going on with me.
“That is what led me to this new awakening, this realising, ‘if I don’t do some self-love, I’m not going to be able to keep the love that I want’. I still needed to deal with all of my ex-husband stuff. I hadn’t.”
Part of her ex-husband “stuff” she says was conflicting life stages.
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“[Brand] really wanted me to have children, and I knew I wasn’t ready. I think it was a way of control,” says the star who says she is still “definitely” not ready for children.
“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. 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’.”
Until she is ready for the next step, she is enjoying life with Mayer as is.
“He’s just a fantastic partner,” she says of her 36-year-old beau. “I’ve been a fan of his for such a long time. He’s got a brilliant, brilliant mind . . . it’s a rad, mature relationship.”
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