Katy Perry Vanity Fair Magazine Cover June 2011

Katy Perry’s barely-covered chest covers the trashiest issue of Vanity Fair to date. Ignoring the Annie Leibovitz composition, this cover is better suited to Maxim or some other men’s magazine. It’s hardly befitting a women’s magazine. I get that they’re selling Perry’s sexuality. And it helps if you can see her boobs while she’s making the sale. But, the nude colour underwear being her only garment on the cover is what pushes it over the edge, in my opinion. I guess it’s going to sell. Although it’s lacking a little in the eye-contact area too. Perry pulls the same Lady Gaga hands-on-waist clinch that’s better suited to Uncle Terry’s molester lens and not a Leibovitz shoot. At least she’s not wearing one of those polyester wigs or rubber. So, you know… mercy. The cover does give a very good idea of her interview. Perry has a pretty limited repertoire and she’s back to talking about her religious background and discovering her sexuality. So, pretty much the same things she spoke about in her 2010 Rolling Stone interview.

On how she’s love-it-or-hate-it: ‘My career is like an artichoke,’ Katy Perry tells Vanity Fair contributing editor Lisa Robinson. ‘People might think that the leaves are tasty and buttered up and delicious, and they don’t even know that there’s something magical hidden at the base of it. There’s a whole other side [of me] that people didn’t know existed.’
On not having a childhood: ‘I didn’t have a childhood,’ she says, adding that her mother never read her any books except the Bible, and that she wasn’t allowed to say ‘deviled eggs’ or ‘Dirt Devil.’ Perry wasn’t even allowed to listen to secular music and relied on friends to sneak her CDs.
On being sheltered: ‘Growing up, seeing Planned Parenthood, it was considered like the abortion clinic,’ she tells Robinson. ‘I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there… I didn’t know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs. I didn’t have insurance, so I went there and I learned about birth control.’
On how her relationship with her parents has changed: ‘I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up,’ Perry says of her evangelical-minister parents. ‘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. 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.’ Perry’s mother confirms that she is proud of her daughter’s success, telling Robinson, ‘The Lord told us when I was pregnant with her that she would do this.’
On her world-view as an adult: ‘I come from a very non-accepting family, but I’m very accepting,’ Perry says of her religious beliefs as an adult.
On her husband’s faith: ‘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 lets me be me.’
On questioning her faith as a child: ‘I have always been the kid who’s asked ‘Why?’ In my faith, you’re just supposed to have faith. But I was always like…why?’ she says.
On trusting her husband: ‘[There is] never a dull moment… [but Russell has] never lied to me once. I trust him; there’s just a level of trust that we’ve built up.’ When asked about the infamous photo Brand tweeted of her without makeup in the middle of the night, Perry laughs it off. ‘We were just messing around,’ she says, ‘I didn’t really care. I mean, when I go to rehearsals I look like that. I’m every woman. It takes a village to make me who I am…. You don’t have to wake up looking like, you know, Gisele.’
On the media intrusion: ‘The press is just not your friend when it comes to a marriage,’ Perry explains of her need for privacy in her relationship with Brand. ‘That’s why we didn’t sell the pictures of our wedding, and we got offered millions of dollars for them, millions.’ Why not take the money and give it to charity, Robinson asks. ‘Well, I can always do that later for something else; maybe if I have a child,’ Perry says. ‘But I’ve seen too much of it with other people; it’s the wrong kind of attention. It detracts from the reason why you exist. We wanted that moment to ourselves.’ After ultimately showing a clip of her wedding video at the Grammys, Perry tells Robinson she did it ‘Because I felt the moment was right and not forced. Russell and I had time to savor our moment privately first and then share it with people when we were ready, and not for a paycheck. I loved the idea, because I thought it was beautiful and artistically accompanied the song I wrote for him. Plus, it was Valentine’s eve.’
On the I Kissed A Girl scandal: ‘…it really was [meant to be] fun; there was no agenda.’ Perry admits she didn’t discuss it honestly at first because a couple of ‘sleazy’ male journalists made her uncomfortable. ‘So I said no, I hadn’t experienced it, even though I had, because I didn’t like where the guys were taking the interviews.’
On why, precisely, you can suck it: ‘I don’t care what people say about my relationship; I don’t care what they say about my boobs. People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I’m getting incredible feedback from my music.’
On knowing her boobs are replaceable: ‘I don’t take anything for granted,’ she says. ‘There are 500 other girls right behind me. And I know that, because I was one of them. I remember what it’s like to be someone who’s always trying to get there; sending out tons of e-mails… trying to connect with some person who could connect me with some other person. And I wouldn’t be working at this pace now if I didn’t truly know that fame is fleeting.’
On those stupid costumes and wigs: ‘If the core, the honesty, my story, isn’t working, then all those bells and whistles aren’t going to work, either,’ Perry says of staying focused on her music. ‘Sometimes I can be distracted by the glamour and the fabulousness. But my husband always reminds me to keep the core intact… I just think I have to appreciate every day, every opportunity, work hard, and continue to evolve as an artist. I already know my future evolution, where I’m going to go. I mean, I’m touring in fucking Indonesia, for crying out loud.’