People Katy Perry Treated Like Trash

The following article includes mentions of addiction, sexual abuse allegations, and mental health issues.

Katy Perry has had a whirlwind career since she first hit the pop scene in 2008 with the release of her controversial No. 1 single "I Kissed a Girl." She shattered records with her instant-classic album "Teenage Dream," performed at the Super Bowl (and spawned a million "Left Shark" memes), advocated for LGBTQ+ rights (even though she has some not-so-woke songs hiding deep in her back catalogue ... "Ur So Gay," it's you we're side-eyeing), and campaigned for presidential candidates. As her career has slowed down in recent years — even though "Never Really Over" deserved to smash as much as any of her hit songs, if you ask us — she successfully pivoted to reality television, still driving culture as one of the judges on the rebooted "American Idol."

However, behind the bubbly persona, and beneath the rainbows, gummy bears, unicorns, and colorful wigs ("...wig? Did you just say wig?"), there is sometimes a dark side to Katy Perry. Especially early in her career, the "Harleys in Hawaii" songstress refused to hold back online, often talking trash about other celebrities in public as much as she evidently treated them poorly behind-the-scenes. 

Read on for a roundup of just some of the people Katy Perry has treated like trash, and keep in mind: many of her biggest feuds have dragged on for years, and even the ones that seem to have been resolved, well ... just because they're over doesn't mean they're really over.

Katy Perry and Calvin Harris were supposed to tour together in support of her record-breaking album "Teenage Dream," but the former's team apparently changed the stage production around at the last minute, annoying the British DJ. As was often the case for Perry's disagreements with other stars back in the day, the argument spilled over onto social media, and the two aired out their differences in full view of the public.

"Fyi All Uk & Ireland Related Shows @CalvinHarris will Not be joining in on the fun and has Cancelled last minute," Perry tweeted back in 2011. Harris defended himself, letting his followers know that he was unhappy with the change in production standards. He reasoned (via The Evening Standard), "Trust me you would have been more disappointed SEEING the show than u are with me cancelling." Not willing to let Harris get the last word, Perry shot back, "It's fine, I'm used to you cancelling on me, it's become ur staple!" Meanwhile, Gigwise reported that a bunch of Katycats then sent Harris disturbing tweets, and Perry didn't call off her fans. "WTF are Katy Perry fans telling me to kill myself on Twitter for? Seriously. I'm a producer making music. Leave me alone please thanks," he begged.

The two made up years later and released the 2017 hit single "Feels" together. For her part, Perry told Ryan Seacrest at the time (via People), "We'd had little falling outs here and there. We'd had some public Twitter spats. ... It was time to put all that behind us."

Katy Perry was born Katheryn Hudson, and before she became the megastar fans know and love today — she of whipped-cream bras and Left Shark — she released an album as Katy Hudson. The record flopped; as Pop Crave notes, various outlets often say the album only sold 200 copies. Because there was already a famous Kate Hudson, a rebrand as "Katy Perry" followed in 2008 with the release of "One of the Boys," and the rest is pop history.

The trouble is ... there was already a Katie Perry. Australian designer Katie Perry tried to trademark the name back in 2009, in the early days of singer Katy Perry's fame, and Katy's lawyers sent Katie a cease-and-desist letter to prevent her from using her own name to sell clothes, according to the Daily Mail. The resulting lawsuits dragged on for years; at the time of this writing, Katie the designer most recently sued Katy the pop star, alleging trademark infringement. In 2021, the courts released emails the singer had sent to her team about the designer, in which she reportedly called her a "dumb b**ch." News.com.au reported that she also directed them "not to soften up or apologize."

The Australian Associated Press (via Yahoo! News) noted that, back in 2009, the designer shared a message with the singer via YouTube, begging her to ease up. "I'm absolutely no threat whatsoever to you," she reportedly said, adding, "You're a girl who has a dream just like myself. I wish you all the success but leave me to carry on my dream."

Katy Perry and Taylor Swift's feud is the stuff of pop culture legend. At first, we only got rumblings that something had happened. In 2014, Swift told Rolling Stone that her upcoming song "Bad Blood" was about another pop star she could never decide if she was friends with. "She did something so horrible. I was like, 'Oh, we're just straight-up enemies,'" Swift said. "Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing," Perry tweeted when the interview was posted online, all but confirming that she was the one Swift had "Bad Blood" with. When the song came out a month later, fans poured over lines like (via Genius), "'Cause baby, now we got bad blood / You know it used to be mad love," for clues.

Allegedly, Perry poached some of Swift's dancers for a tour. The following year, one of Swift's backup dancers dressed as a shark during a performance of "Bad Blood," possibly a reference to Perry's infamous Left Shark meme. In the summer of 2015, Swift temporarily took issue with Nicki Minaj for seemingly "pitting women against each other" in a fight about VMA nominations, and Perry tweeted out the iconic word salad, "Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman... ."

After years of squabbling and further insinuations, Perry sent Swift a literal olive branch (via Time). The next year, Swift invited Perry to appear in her 2019 music video for "You Need to Calm Down." Hear that, Twitter stans?

When Katy Perry initially got famous, she found herself in a relationship with Travie McCoy, lead singer of Gym Class Heroes. She appeared in the video for the band's hit single "Cupid's Chokehold," and they co-headlined The Warped Tour in 2008, a gig Perry likely got thanks in no small part to the fact that McCoy had far more punk cred than she did at the time. However, the relationship was not to last, and McCoy revealed in an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" (via Vibe) that Perry committed the cardinal sin of breaking up with him over email. "Someone that you are ready to spend the rest of your life with sends you a f**king email just s**ting on your whole parade. It destroyed me," he said.

As if that wasn't enough of a slap in the face, Perry later released a song called "Circle the Drain" seemingly about his issues with addiction, which, no matter how much of a bop it may be, included some extraordinarily insensitive lyrics (via Genius). To be clear, it wasn't Katy's responsibility to help him get clean, but taunting him with lines like, "You fall asleep during foreplay / 'Cause the pills you take are more your forté," sure isn't great.

McCoy got the last laugh when he told MTV News, "I heard she put out a song that's about me, or about some old habits or whatever. ... I'm just stoked that she finally has a song with some substance on her record. Good job."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Before she shot to stardom for sing-talking about brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack — but after she appeared on "The Simple Life" — Kesha was on the come-up when she appeared in Katy Perry's music video for "I Kissed a Girl." Both Perry and Kesha were proteges of super-producer Dr. Luke, with the latter having co-written the pop stars' hits like "California Gurls" and "Tik Tok." They seemed to get along at first; they were photographed hanging out at the 2010 VMAs, scowling in unison at Lady Gaga's infamous meat dress.

However, years later, when Kesha went public with allegations that Dr. Luke had sexually and psychologically abused her, she was left hurt when Perry was one of the few pop stars not to openly support her in her quest to be let out of her contract. Leaked texts between Kesha and Lady Gaga (via CBS News) showed that Kesha feared Perry because she was "mean," and she alleged that Dr. Luke had abused Perry, as well. As a result, Perry testified on Dr. Luke's behalf in the ongoing court battle; in 2018, court documents were unsealed revealing that she went to court and said that Dr. Luke never abused her ... even though that doesn't necessarily have any bearing on whether he abused Kesha.

Perry finally spoke publicly about the legal drama in 2020, telling the Los Angeles Times, "I believe in due process. And I also believe that only they know the truth."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

By all accounts, including their own, Katy Perry's 14-month marriage to ex-husband Russell Brand was a rocky one right from the outset. They got engaged over New Year's as 2009 became 2010 on a trip to India (via The Guardian), after a mere three months of dating; they married that year and divorced a year later. Specific details about what it was like have been scarce, but it sounds like neither was right for the other. In 2020, Perry told "60 Minutes Australia," "It was the first ... breaking of my idealistic mind." She said the relationship was "like a tornado," explaining that she liked Brand because he was "interesting and stimulating," but claimed that he didn't like being the less-successful one. 

She previously revealed to Vogue that he'd told her he wanted a divorce over text message, and that they hadn't spoken since. Brand stayed mostly mum about the dissolution of their marriage, declining to speak about her in the press. Perry, on the other hand, has been very public about how she feels about her ex, including airing out raw, emotional details about the divorce in her 2012 documentary "Part of Me" (via Marie Claire). "I did everything it took [to keep the relationship together], but it still failed," she said.

Brand finally opened up in 2021 about his side of the story, claiming that he was the one who had attempted to hold on. "I really tried in that relationship," he told fans on TikTok (via HELLO!). "I have nothing but positive feelings for her."