Katy Perry has never been shy about opening up about her personal life. Recently, she did an interview with Paper magazine and shared much about her faith, or lack there of, through her adult life.

Perry, whose birth name is Katheryn Hudson, said she grew up in a Christian “bubble”, and both of her parents are evangelists.  Perry grew up singing in church choirs, and worked on a gospel album.

When her career started taking off, it was easier to step out of her parent’s bubble and the singer said she felt her faith “backsliding.”. When she turned 17, the star went from hanging out Christian pamphlets at a Marilyn Manson concert to renting an apartment in Beverly Hills. This was a huge change from what she had growing up.

“I came from a lower- to middle-class family,” she explained. “Every fight my parents had was about money.”

She started working with producer Glen Ballard, writing songs about everything including sex. “I felt so bad, but then I loved it,” she told the publication. Perry landed her first major hit, “I Kissed a Girl,” in 2008.

Over the next eight years, it seemed if Perry had completley abandoned her Christian upbrining. During that time, Perry had been cranking out hit albums nonstop, until the release of Witness, her post-2016 election “purposeful pop” album that was not met with the best reviews.

Perry mentioned in previous interviews that she suffered from “situational depression” due the the records poor ratings. Afterwards, she attended the Hoffman Process, a week-long personal growth programm that she described as “10 years of therapy in one week.”

“I’ve never felt closer to God,” she said about the program. “I’ve never felt so much release and relief.” Perry added that it had freed her from “the conditioning of what society thinks” and let her think more kindly of herself. Perry mentioned she is now focused on “spirituality and heart goodness.”

Throught the past two years, there have been other instances of Perry coming back to her Christian roots. In July 2017, just one month after “Witness” dropped, the pop star met with Pope Francis. Remembering the encounter in an interview with Vogue Australia, Perry said her mother frequently prays she will one day “come back to God.”

“I’m such a big fan of Pope Francis,” Perry said. “It’s a combination of compassion, humility, sternness and refusal. He is a rebel — a rebel for Jesus.”

In April of 2018, Perry posted a photo of a tattoo on her wrist that says “Jesus”. Perry told Katie Couric in 2009 the marking serves as a reminder of her Christian roots and that she “can always go back” to her faith.