Katy Perry has come a long way from her days where she still went by her real name, Katheryn "Katy" Hudson, and started her career in music by way of a contemporary Christian record, which she released in March 2001.
It wasn't until 2008 that she would leave behind the conservative, ultra-strict lifestyle that defined her childhood in favor of her signature campy and risqué persona first established by hits like "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot N Cold."
While her brand and discography pales in comparison to what one might expect from a child of preacher parents who prohibited her from listening to secular music, the "Firework" singer hasn't shied away from opening up about her upbringing and her parents, whose conservative values were recently brought back to the spotlight by way of a Republican candidacy from her mom.
Who are Katy Perry's parents?
Katy was born in Santa Barbara in 1984 to Maurice Keith Hudson and Mary Christine Perry, who have worked as Pentecostal pastors and evangelical ministers for over forty years.
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Maurice was born and raised in Las Vegas – where Katy later had her own residency – which is where he met his future wife, who was at the time working as a radio news director and freelance journalist. They tied the knot in the famed Nevada city in 1979, after which they started their own church in Santa Barbara, and have traveled the world as preachers in the years since.
What is Katy Perry's mom running for in politics?
In November, Mary, 75, filed paperwork and subsequently declared her candidacy for a seat on her local Republican Party's central committee in Santa Barbara.
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She is set to appear on the county's voting ballot in March, and should she be elected, she would represent the Santa Barbara County Republican Party as someone tasked with promoting the party's platform within her local community.
Does Katy Perry have a relationship with her parents?
Katy has been candid about the differences between her values today and that of her ultra-conservative parents, though she has also opened up about finding common ground with them.
"I come from a very non-accepting family, but I'm very accepting," she told Vanity Fair in 2011, adding: "We coexist. I don't try to change them anymore, and I don't think they try to change me. We agree to disagree."
During a 2017 appearance on the Today Show, she similarly said: "They don't agree with some of the things I do and they do wish that I could do other things," though she maintained: "My parents are great, and I love them so much," and even added: "I cry sometimes thinking about how much I love them."
What has Katy Perry said about what her strict childhood was like?
During the aforementioned interview with VF, Katy declared she "didn't have a childhood," as a result of her parents' strict, religion-led rules.
She recalled how her mother never read her any books other than the Bible, being prohibited from saying things like "deviled eggs" or "dirt devil," or listening to secular music, and her fears of getting "bombed" when she first visited Planned Parenthood, having grown up thinking it was exclusively an "abortion clinic," as opposed to the women's health center with wide-ranging services that it actually is.
Katy also remembered always having a sense of skepticism when it came to faith, and said: "I have always been the kid who's asked 'Why?' In my faith, you're just supposed to have faith. But I was always like, 'Why?'" adding: "At this point, I'm just kind of a drifter. I'm open to possibility. My sponge is so big and wide and I'm soaking everything up and my mind has been radically expanded. Just being around different cultures and people and their opinions and perspectives. Just looking into the sky."
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