Katy Perry Honored An Orlando Shooting Survivor In A Big Way

Katy Perry honored a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting during an appearance on Ellen on Sept. 8, 2016.

Guest Tony Marrero was shot four times in the deadly Orlando massacre and even revealed that he "died" on the way to the hospital. Thankfully, he's since made a full recovery, but was devastated by the death of his best friend in the attack. Marrero told DeGeneres that Perry's song, "Rise," inspired him to keep moving forward with his recovery after the night that changed his life forever.

The ever-generous DeGeneres then surprised Marrero when Perry popped out from backstage. The singer and Marrero held each other and cried, with Perry choking through sobs,telling Marrero, "I don't know how I'm going to get through this. Your story is so inspirational."

Marrero, visibly moved, replied, "I just want to say thank you for everything you do. Your lyrics to that song helped me from the day that I was in the hospital all the way to now. You're amazing."

Perry had more up her sleeve than just her presence. "I heard that you're creative just like me and you have dreams and you want to go out there and do good and fulfill them. I heard that you want to go to film school," she told him, "so I personally want to pay for your first year at film school."

Are you crying yet?

Perhaps part of why Perry wants to give back is because she grew up struggling. She told Women's Wear Daily, "I grew up in the poorest part of Santa Barbara...Actually my boyfriend didn't even believe me and I was like, 'I'm going to drive you by my house,' and you can Google Earth it. I basically had a crazy church-filled, God squad upbringing," she said. "I lived on food stamps and a food bank in Santa Barbara, which is like a crazy juxtaposition to live in beauty and still have a bit of a struggle, but that's just because of the nature of the church."