Pregnant Katy Perry gets candid about struggle with depression as she admits she ‘may face those challenges again’
Earlier this year, Katy Perry opened up about her struggle with mental health and how fiancé Orlando Bloom helped support her through serious periods of clinical depression.
Now, the pregnant star has confessed that despite being in a better place with Orlando, 43, ahead of the birth of their first child together, she still considers herself to be a work in progress.
In a candid new interview on the Spotify: For The Record Podcast, Katy, 35, admits that while she managed to ‘get her smile back’ for her new album, she doesn’t want to be ‘ignorant to think that I may never face these challenges again.’
Smile: Pregnant Katy Perry gets candid about struggle with depression as she admits she ‘may face those challenges again’ on a new Spotify podcast
‘Around 2017, I really lost my smile,’ Katy says, amid a frank discussion about her career and personal life. ‘And then, you know, I, broke up with my boyfriend at the time, who’s now my baby daddy. And I went on tour and, there was just this like, I-don’t-get-high-off-of-my-own-supply feeling anymore.’
She added: ‘And I started to feel really numb and I started to question the audience. I’m like, “Why are you here? Like, are you bored? What’s going on?” And I started to not understand why I was feeling so dark, and I really lost my smile.’
Katy’s new album – titled Smile – is said to have been named after this melancholy period in her life, which coincided with the release of her fifth album Witness, that received mixed reviews.
Clowning around: Katy’s sixth album Smile will be released next week
Talking about the title Smile, which was also her last single, she said: ‘A smile is a real cue to show, is it true? Is it- are you really happy? Are you reacting authentically? Is it forced? I guess it was just like a way to define kind of mental wellness and happiness for me.’
Katy continued: ‘I had to put it on every single night. And was having a really dark internal dialogue. And during [The Witness] tour, I just went and sought some deeper therapy and went deeper within and, and tried to figure out why these demons kept a-knocking.’
Reflecting on the artwork and video for Smile she added: ‘It’s still a little bit of a juxtaposition. It’s still, you know, a bit satirical in that I’m dressed as a clown and it says “Smile” on the front of it, shaped a little bit like a Cheshire cat smile.’
Tears of a clown: Katy has spoke about why she has titled her new record ‘Smile’ revealing that it stemmed from a dark place in her personal life and career
‘And it’s really just like, of course, I’m going to get my smile back, but I don’t want to be ignorant to think that I may never face these challenges again.’
Katy’s sixth album Smile will be released next week. Meanwhile, Spotify has also recently teamed up with supermodel Ashley Graham for an exciting new podcast.
Listen Up with Ashley Graham will stream on Ashley’s Instagram Live from August 26 – September 9, with a discussion guide being posted on Spotify’s For The Record blog beforehand.