Superstar Katy Perry's parents, Keith and Mary Hudson, are famous pentecostal pastors and have received "negative vibes" because of their daughter.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 16, 2020. It has since been updated.
For most people, God was an intrinsic part of their childhood. Many grew up attending regular masses and church gatherings. Popstar Katy Perry, too, had a religious upbringing thanks to her parents, Mary and Keith, two Pentecostal pastors. (Mary was raised Catholic.) The church was also the first place where she started performing.
Her dream of being a musician began at a very young age, which was fuelled by her religious upbringing in Santa Barbara. When Mary was pregnant, an evangelist prayed over her and declared, "This child will do something great for God," according to GodTV. When Katy was nine, a minister prophesied that she would one day stand before kings and presidents, and something similar happened.
She started off with writing worship songs as a young girl and would perform solos in the church. When she would sing to Christian audiences as a girl, "the anointing for worship was incredible. People would just weep," Mary recalled.
The superstar left home at 15 to pursue her career in music, according to Vogue. "I was laser-focused and off to the races from the time I was nine years old," Katy said. Katie had strong values, yet she followed her own path. While she found adulation and love from her audience satisfying, her superhit song from 2008, I Kissed a Girl, was not well received at home. "I felt like I was flattened to the wall," Mary told GodTV.
This sent Mary down a rabbit hole with a lot of judgment from others. "I get a lot of negative vibes," the superstar's mother added. "People ask us, ‘How could you have a daughter like that?'"
Katy is aware of the difficulties faced by her family; while she acknowledges their experiences, her journey is a lot more spiritual. While she has "Jesus" tattooed on her arm, she prefers to interpret him and his message of love and equality personally. "My mom has prayed for me my entire life, hoping I’d come back to God. I never left Him, I was just a little bit secular, I was more materialistic and more career-driven. But now that I’m in my 30s, it’s more about spirituality and heart wholeness," she said. "Oh, my God. We put our parents—I’m only speaking for me, from my experience—I put my parents through hell and back and back!" said the Roar singer.
Katy has been open about her frayed relationship with her family, who called her "mouthy" on American Idol, where she is one of the judges. However, she affirmed that her parents were her first fans. "Honestly, my nieces sing themselves to sleep when they go to nap time," she revealed, as per Us Weekly. "My mom told me that’s what I used to do and that’s why she would call me ‘bird’ because I used to sing myself to sleep during nap time."
While their relationship is tenuous, she is still close to them. She took her mom and partner, Orlando Bloom, to Rome where she met the Pope. "It started when we were on the Asia leg of the tour and I went to mass with my mom," Katy tells me. "She hadn’t sung those songs in 40 years and watching her made me cry. It’s so beautiful and humbling to re-centre in a place where it’s not about anything else but reconnecting with the divine."
Katy is a big fan of the Pope and added that there were multiple reasons for that. "It’s a combination of compassion, humility, sternness, and refusal. He is a rebel—a rebel for Jesus," she told Vogue. She also added that he named himself after Francis of Assisi, her favorite saint, and that he adheres to his vow of poverty. "He is bringing the Church back to humility and connecting with people. He’s very humble and not frivolous." She listed another thing she loves about the Pope—his love for animals. He is often depicted surrounded by animals from the woods, an image that reminds her of her favorite Disney character, Snow White.
The star is going to be a mom soon, and she will be welcoming her first child with Orlando. They had to postpone their wedding due to the global health crisis and travel restrictions.
References:
https://godtv.com/katy-perry-mom-message/
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/katy-perry-i-put-my-parents-through-hell-and-back/
