Katy Perry has previously admitted she was ‘scared’ of how her fans would react to her real name.
Although she’s known worldwide as Katy Perry, that isn’t the name she was given at birth. The 41-year-old has used “Katy Perry” as a stage name for years, while her legal name is different.
Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, and she spoke about the decision to reinvent herself in a 2017 interview with the Guardian, explaining how “Katy Perry” became the name the public associates with her.
Growing up with deeply religious parents—both Pentecostal pastors—she described a challenging childhood and said she felt driven to break away and “liberate” herself from that environment.
That background, she said, played a big role in why she decided to change her name and create a public persona that felt safer to inhabit.
“A lot of people are living in fear from something that happened in their childhood, or some form of PTSD they picked up along the way,” she explained.
“And I created this wonderful character called Katy Perry that I very much am, and can step into all the time, but I created that character out of protection.”
She also acknowledged that part of the transformation came from anxiety about how fans might respond if they saw the person behind the stage name.
Perry continued: “I was scared that if you saw me, Katheryn Hudson, the girl wearing the Bioré strip on my nose, you’d be like, ‘That’s not glamorous’.
“It was me going, ‘OK, I’ve been upset my whole childhood so I’m going to show the world I am something, that I am going to do something and that I am enough’.
“I didn’t want to be Katheryn Hudson. I hated that, it was too scary for me, so I decided to be someone else.”
Even though she has addressed her birth name publicly on multiple occasions, many viewers were still surprised during the 2024 VMAs when her then partner, Orlando Bloom, referred to her by her real name while presenting her on stage.
“You fell in love with her as Katy Perry,” Bloom said as he awarded Perry with the MTV Video Vanguard Award.
He then revealed her real name, saying: “I fell in love with her as Katheryn Hudson.
“You know her as a global superstar who brings love, light, and her unique sense of humor to every song she writes and music video she creates. I know her as a mother, as a partner who brings that same love and joy to our family.”
In June 2025, it was reported that the pair had separated. A source told People at the time: “Katy has every intention of maintaining a positive and respectful relationship with Orlando. He’s the father of their daughter and that will always come first for her.
“They’ve been through a lot together and while they’ve decided to go their separate ways, there’s still a mutual respect between them. They’re still very much in touch and co-parenting Daisy together. For the sake of their daughter, they’re committed to keeping things amicable.”