Katy Perry has hit the headlines with her romance with Justin Trudeau, but this is not the first time she has shocked the world – here are six more occasions.
Katy Perry must be used to creating headlines now, but news that she is apparently in a romantic relationship with ex-prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has surprised many people.
Celebrity news site TMZ broke the story, publishing pics and video of the pair walking hand-in-hand before they get into a car.
While neither of the parties involved have officially confirmed – or denied – anything, speculation about the pair has been growing in recent weeks with other pictures appearing online and cryptic comments from Perry.
But if – keyword there – the rumours are true, then it will just be the latest time that Katy has shocked the world over the years. Here are six other occasions.
Going into space
One of the most recent shocks came earlier this year, when Katy, along with five other women, went into space on board Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. The 11-minute flight, which took the women 100km above Earth – past the internationally recognised boundary of space – where they briefly got to experience weightlessness.
When she exited the capsule on her return to Earth, Katy kissed the ground and lifted a daisy to the sky, in recognition of her daughter, who is called Daisy. Read more on that here.
Number ones record
While Perry rose to fame with the album One of the Boys in 2008, it was 2010’s Teenage Dream that sent her stratospheric. This album spawned five number one singles in the US – and Katy became the first female artist to do this. The singles were: California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, ET and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) – several of which are now considered pop classics.
Marrying and divorcing Russell Brand
Plenty of eyebrows when Katy married the English then-comedian, actor and presenter in 2010. The pair had met in 2009 when Katy made a cameo in Get Him To The Greek, which starred Brand. They hit it off and were engaged at the end of that year, and were married the next year in a traditional Hindu ceremony in India.
But within 14 months, the couple had split. Katy said this was down to conflicting career schedules, and the fact Brand wanted children and she, at the time, didn’t. Brand said it was due to her commercial success and reluctance to engage in activism.
Beefing with Taylor Swift
If you’re going to beef with anyone in pop, Taylor Swift probably isn’t the person to pick on. However, the pop star pair fell out in 2013 when three of Taylor’s dancers defected from her tour to join Katy’s instead. Enraged, Taylor put pen to paper and wrote (and released) the track Bad Blood, allegedly about Katy and her attempts to sabotage Taylor’s tour.
The beef continued on Twitter and in interviews for several years afterwards. But, somewhere along the line, the pair appear to have kissed and made up and are now, apparently, good friends.
She kissed a girl…
Speaking of kissing, one of Katy’s biggest hits is, of course, I Kissed A Girl. But in March 2014, it happened for real with Miley Cyrus. Mid-performance during the Bangerz tour, Katy walked up to Miley to give her what she later described as a ‘friendly girly kiss, you know, as girls do,’ and got a little more than she bargained for as Miley moved her heard and tried to go deeper. Katy pulled away… it was awkward all round.
Copycat allegations
On more than one occasion, Katy has faced allegations that she has copied other artists’ songs. Her 2013 hit, Roar, was called out by users of Twitter (as it was then) for its similarity to Brave by Sara Bareilles. However, no case was ever brought and Katy said that when she wrote it she was writing about being a mega cat lady…
Meanwhile in 2014 she was sued by Christian rapper Flame who alleged she copied his track Joyful Noise in Dark Horse. While Flame won $2.8 million in damages in 2019 in the case, the decision was overturned on appeal in 2022.
