Katy Perry wants to raise her daughter differently from how she was raised, which was heavily influenced by her pastor parents.
Most parents have an idea about how they want to raise their children and most of them do it based on their value system. People usually have a strong set of beliefs, which they would like their kids to inherit. While many prefer their children follow the same faith, others would like their to choose what they truly believe in. They want to encourage free-thinking and promote their right to make their own decisions.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, who are waiting to welcome their daughter this week, want their child to be an independent thinker from childhood. Perry, who is set to deliver any day now, wants her unborn daughter to have a rich inner life. She wants her child to grow up learning "the magic in life," she said in a new interview with ET. The popstar is also excited to raise her daughter in a "different way" than she was raised.
"I am just excited to be able to raise her in a different way than what I was raised and to let her think for herself and have choice and discover and just lean into the magic in life and dress like whatever she wants to dress like for Halloween," Perry explained. "That is going to be really, really important. I was never allowed to go trick-or-treating or dress up, which is probably why I make up for it so much."
The Roar singer, who feels like she's been "pregnant forever," is "excited" to raise her first child. "We're here to support her," she said.
The Teenage Dream singer was born to pastors Mary and Keith and had a childhood heavily influenced by their religious beliefs. The American Idol judge started her informal career by singing in church and became a gospel singer as a teenager before stepping out of her comfort zone to be a pop artist. Her parents had not allowed their kids to listen to any rock or popular music. "The only things I was allowed to listen to were the Sister Act 1 and 2 soundtracks," Perry told Entertainment Weekly. She and her two siblings were also kept away from watching cable channels like MTV and VH1.
Her career started with the bi-curious pop-rock song I Kissed a Girl even though she was opposed to it initially. "When the label wanted to go with I Kissed a Girl for a single, I was like, 'Nooo! I’m gonna come off like that’s the only subject I know how to sing about.'"
Her parents thought she had lost her way to God. When her mom, Mary, was pregnant with her an evangelist prayed over her and declared, "This child will do something great for God." There were more prophecies destined for young Perry. When she was nine, a minister said she would stand before kings and presidents one day, and that day did come true as she began her life as a global performer.
Her mom took the release of her first single badly. "I felt like I was flattened to the wall," Mary told GodTV. She and her husband were also at the receiving end of a lot of judgment. "I get a lot of negative vibes," Mary said. "People ask us, ‘How could you have a daughter like that?'"
However, The One That Got Away singer never strayed away from God. She even has a "Jesus" tattoo but she prefers to be secular. "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 told Vogue.
The 35-year-old told ET, "Personally, I feel like everyone changes from their 20s to their 30s whether you like it or not. I am so proud of everything I have been able to put out and I love it and I love that Teenage Dream became like a real cool marker for numbers... but I definitely don't live in that headspace anymore."
The popstar is also waiting for her new album, Smile, to release on August 28 and is playing a guessing game about which will arrive sooner, her daughter or the album. "I don't know who's going to come first, her or the record. We'll see what kind of headline she wants if she wants to be the opener or the closer," she joked. "I have a feeling that she does not follow."
"I'm so excited for both deliveries–obviously the child and obviously the record," she said. "I think 2020 may have a silver lining for me," the Fireworks star said.
References:
https://ew.com/article/2008/05/30/how-katy-perry-went-christian-rock-i-kissed-girl/