Katy Perry got emotional recently when she reflected about how her old church once bought her a guitar as a teen

When one contestant named Kai revealed that her church sent her to audition for the show since she and her family struggled to find a stable home, pop singer Katy could relate. Katy’s parents were traveling ministers when she was growing up, so money was tight.

“I was raised in the church too,” Perry told the contestant. “I didn’t grow up with any money, and money was always the problem—it was the cause of everything not great in my life. We had food stamps. We ate at the food bank, all that stuff, because my parents were traveling ministers.”

Over two decades later, the singer recalled how her own church helped her musical journey.

“And so, when I was 13, the church bought me a guitar,” she said. “And so I related to what you’re saying. I think it’s so beautiful.”

While Katy has stopped identifying as a Christian, she still keeps a tight relationship with her preacher parents. Last year, she described an amazing experience that she had at church with her preacher mother, Mary Hudson.

“It started when we were on the Asia leg of the tour and I went to mass with my mom,” the singer told Vogue Australia. “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 explained that even when she fell away from her church community, her mother prayed for her.

“My mom has prayed for me my entire life, hoping I’d come back to God,” she told Vogue. “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.”

 

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)