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Katy Perry Talks Growing Up Religious, Situational Depression After 'Witness' & Living With Orlando Bloom for 'Paper' Magazine

Katy Perry is the most recent cover star for Paper magazine, and as usual, she was an open book for her interview, discussing everything from her religious childhood to the depression that followed Witness' lack of success.

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When she turned 17, the star went from hanging out Christian pamphlets at a Marilyn Manson concert to renting an apartment in Beverly Hills and writing songs about everything, including sex. "I felt so bad, but then I loved it," she told the publication, "Not always just writing about the good times, but writing about the bad times, my curiosities, heartbreak, depression, all that stuff." A few years later, in 2008, Perry released her first album on a major record label, One of the Boys, which included the controversial smash single, "I Kissed a Girl."

Since then, Perry has been cranking out hit albums nonstop, until the release of Witness, her post-2016 election "purposeful pop" album that was not met with the best reviews. The star experienced situational depression and discussed the resulting week-long personal growth program called the Hoffman Process. "I've never felt closer to God," she said. "I've never felt so much release and relief." She mentioned it freed her from "the conditioning of what society thinks" and crushed the "untuned symphony, just going at all times" in her head.

On a lighter note, she discussed her living situation with boyfriend Orlando Bloom and their hoarding tendencies. "I'm very OCD and I don't say that lightly," she said, attributing the hoarding to potentially some of the instabilities from her childhood. "It was just a product of me trying to control my environment."

Perry also talked about getting rid of Bloom's old toiletry bag. "My boyfriend doesn't even know that I threw away his toiletry bag while he's been gone," she said. "I told him I got him a new one for Christmas. He said, 'Oh, this has been around the world for 10 years' and he wanted to keep it in a drawer. I was like, 'The moment you leave is the moment this thing is going in the trash.'" 

Read the full interview, in which the superstar also discusses her evolving style and her touring years, here.

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