Today, you’ll know that Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are happily together and share a 4-year-old daughter, Daisy.
But what you may have forgotten is that they actually put a year-long pause on their relationship before they got engaged in 2019.
In case you need some extra context, Katy and Orlando — who started dating in 2016 after hitting it off at a Golden Globes afterparty — announced in February 2017 that they were “taking respectful, loving space” from their relationship after a year of dating.
Since then, Katy and Orlando’s relationship has gone from strength to strength. They made their red carpet debut in September 2018, got engaged in February 2019, and announced in March the following year that they were expecting their first child together.
And now, appearing on this week’s episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Katy opened up about the decision to step back from their relationship and why it was for the best.
“We weren’t really in it from day one,” the Teenage Dream singer said, revealing that their romantic intentions weren’t fully aligned when they first started dating.
Katy revealed that right before their split, Orlando took part in the Hoffman Process, which she describes as a week-long retreat where participants engage in activities to “rewire the way you think about yourself” and “rewire all the bad habits.”
When Orlando returned from the retreat, Katy said it became clear that they needed to part ways as he was no longer interested in playing along with her “games.”
The time they spent apart was “really tough” for Katy, but she eventually went and tried the Hoffman retreat for herself. Fast-forward to today, and she credits this experience with helping rebuild their relationship and changing her life.
Elsewhere in the interview, Katy gushed about Orlando and listed off her favorite things about him, from “his adventure spirit” to his healthy habits.
Katy also said that she and Orlando continue prioritizing couples therapy to strengthen their bond.