Katy Perry has opened up about her impoverished upbringing as the daughter of devout Pentecostal parents, who often had to rely on food stamps and food banks to survive.
The superstar – said to now be worth $530million – has claimed that she had to rely on food stamps as a child while growing up in Santa Barbara, California.
‘You want to talk about food stamps? I can talk about food stamps. You want to talk about food banks? I can talk about food banks,’ the Roar singer, 39, told People.
‘You want to talk about busking in the street as a teenager, hoping to make $20 to cover yourself? I can talk about that too,’ Perry added.
Her upbringing led her to want to make a serious difference in the world beyond her singing career.
Katy – who jetted to for Taylor Swift’s gig Friday in Sydney – and her older sister Angela Hudson Lerche founded the Firework Foundation in 2018 as a means to help kids in underserved communities have access to the arts.
Katy Perry opened up about her upbringing as the daughter of devout Pentecostal parents who often had to rely on food stamps and food banks to survive, pictured in 2021 with her sister Angela Hudson Lerche
Her upbringing led her to want to make a serious difference in the world beyond her singing career, pictured in 2021 at the Baby2Baby Back2School event
Angela is the president of the foundation and she reflected on how it affects her: ‘A lot of times it’s reminding them that we didn’t come from anything either.
‘[Katy] wasn’t born into some musical family that had all this access. She worked so hard for so many years to get to be where she is.’
The Firework Foundation has had over 400 middle school kids attend Camp Firework.
The kids come from areas in and surrounding Los Angeles and while at camp attend songwriting classes, choreography sessions and shoe design workshops.
Katy and Angela both help out and lead sessions at the camp, which is a delight to her young fans in attendance.
‘I’m up with them in the morning, and they’re throwing whipped cream on me in the evening,’ Perry said. ‘
The kids know me as the girl that sang Roar or Dark Horse, but I hope [by the end] they [think], “I too can live out my dreams like Katy Perry. She’s just like me, in a lot of goofy ways.”‘
Campers are also taught Transcendental meditation to help them manage their mental health.
‘We [want to] support these young people throughout their whole education journey,’ Perry continued, disclosing that a number of her former campers have participated in the foundation’s Leaders in Training program.
The training program partners with schools including FIDM for design and LAAMP for music programs.
‘You want to talk about food stamps? I can talk about food stamps. You want to talk about food banks? I can talk about food banks,’ the Roar singer, 39, told People, pictured in 2019
Katy flew to Sydney, to see Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour on Friday
‘I’m just so grateful. It’s so overwhelming because you hear so many stories from these kids, and what it’s like back home and what they’re dealing with,’ Angela gushed.
She continued: ‘They give so much to us, and I’m just grateful that we’re able to show them that there is something better out there.’
And Perry hopes the Firework Foundation is how she will make her mark on the world in the way she’s always dreamed.
‘If in a hundred years nobody knows Katy Perry or the song Firework, but they know what the Firework Foundation is, then I’ll have fulfilled my purpose,’ she said.