Katy Perry: "I Didn't Have a Childhood"

Katy Perry is a pop icon these days -- but growing up the child of born-again evangelical-ministers, the "E.T." singer had zero access to much of the "real" secular world.

"I didn't have a childhood," Perry, 26, tells the new Vanity Fair, noting that her mom forbade her from reading any books except the Bible -- and that words like "deviled eggs" or "Dirt Devil" were verboten.

The platinum-selling star wasn't allowed to listen to pop music, and relied on friends to sneak her CDs.

When Perry became sexually active, she had to secretly visit a Planned Parenthood clinic to get educated about birth control. "It was considered like the abortion clinic...I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there," she admits to the magazine. "I didn't know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs."

But she and her parents have resolved their religious and political differences, she says. "I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up,...Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don't try to change them anymore, and I don't think they try to change me. We agree to disagree."

Plus, like any parents, her huge stardom is thrilling to them. "They're excited about [my success]. They're happy that things are going well for their three children and that they're not on drugs. Or in prison."

She and her husband Russell Brand also don't see exactly eye to eye when it comes to spiritual practices. "Russell is into Hinduism, and I'm not [really] involved in it. He meditates in the morning and the evening; I'm starting to do it more because it really centers me. [But] I just let him be him, and he let's me be me," she says.

"[He] never lied to me once. I trust him; there's just a level of trust that we've built up."

Credit: Us Magazine

Katy Perry and Russell Brand married in Hindu ceremony in India

American singer Katy Perry, 26, and her comedian fiancé Russell Brand, 35, have married in a Hindu marriage ceremony under heavy security arrangements in Ranthambhore National Park, India's leading tiger park. The couple exchanged their marriage vows on Saturday surrounded by a small group of friends and family, in the Hindu marriage rituals conducted by a Hindu priest at the luxury tented camp Aman-i-Khas. Perry’s parents Mary and Keith Hudson, and Brand’s mother Barbara Brand were present.

There was tight security with private security guards stationed at the resort and other nearby hotels where guests and the couple are staying for the six-day wedding celebration.

Perry and Brand began their wedding by worshipping a statue of Lord Ganesha, the Hindu God, as practiced by Hindus before the start of any new venture, and the pair walked to a specially designed mandap, as usual in Hindu weddings, and sat on ornate thrones as a Hindu priest performed the ceremonial rituals.

As is usual in most Indian marriages, the couple walked around a sacred fire seven times reciting Sanskrit mantras and tying a special wedding scarf together to symbolize their life partnership. Brand stooped low to touch Perry’s parents' feet requesting permission to marry Perry.

According to reports, about 40 guests of the couple have been staying since Wednesday at the camp, where tents cost £600 a night, and the neighboring £300 a night Sher Bagh resort.

The celebrity guests, who attended the wedding, included comedian David Baddiel and his wife Morwenn Banks, and on the invitation list were rapper P Diddy, Jonathan Ross, David Williams and pop star Rihanna.

A spokesperson said that though the couple had a Hindu wedding and sat patiently through an hour-long havan, “The very private and spiritual ceremony, attended by the couple’s closest family and friends, was performed by a Christian minister and long time friend of the Hudson (Perry) family.”

Katy Perry for ELLE

She's just an old showgirl at heart.

Click here for full post.