Katy Perry says she considered suicide in 2017: ‘Gratitude is the thing that saved my life’

Singer says ‘hope has always been an option’ for her

Katy Perry has opened up about experiencing suicidal thoughts in 2017 following her separation from Orlando Bloom and poor album sales.

The singer, who is currently expecting her first child with the Lord of the Rings actor, admitted that she “crashed” after going through a series of low moments related to both her personal life and career.

Speaking to radio station SiriusXM CBC, Perry said: “My career was on this trajectory when it was going up, up and up and then I had the smallest shift, not that huge from an outside perspective. But for me it was seismic.

“I had given so much out, and it literally broke me in half. I had broken up with my boyfriend, who is now my baby daddy-to-be and then I was excited about flying high off the next record. But the validation did not make me high, and so I just crashed.”

The "Firework" singer added that she believes “gratitude” saved her life and that she continues to find things in her life to be thankful for.

“It was so important for me to be broken so that I could find my wholeness in a whole different way and be more dimensional than just living my life like a thirsty pop star all the time,” she explained.

“Gratitude is probably the thing that saved my life, because if I did not find that I would have wallowed in my own sadness and probably just jumped.

“But I found the ways to be grateful. If it gets really, really hard I walk around and say, ‘I am grateful, I am grateful!’ even though I am in a sh***y mood.”

Perry added that she is now in a much better place and that her faith has helped her recover over time.

“Hope has always been an option for me, because of my relationship with god and something that is bigger than me,” she said.

“Of course if I am the one controlling my destiny I am going to be the one driving it into the ground. My hope is that something bigger than me created me for a purpose and created me for a reason, and that I’m not disposable, and that every person that’s been created has a purpose.”

This is not the first time that Perry has opened up about her mental health.

Earlier this year, the pregnant pop star reflected on her state of mind during the coronavirus crisis and admitted that she was experiencing “waves of depression”.

“Sometimes I don’t know what’s worse trying to avoid the virus or the waves of depression that come with this new norm,” she wrote on Twitter.

The tweet struck a chord with many of her followers and was flooded with messages of support from fans and celebrity friends.

In January, the “Dark Horse” singer opened up about experiencing depression in an interview with Vogue India, stating that 2017 and 2018 were some of her toughest years.

“In the past, I had been able to overcome it, but this time something happened that made me fall down too many flights of stairs. I had to really go on a mental health journey,” she said.

If you have been affected by this article, you can contact the following organisations for support: mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk, samaritans.org.