Katy Perry has opened up about the backlash to her trip to space, saying the online world tried to make her a "human Piñata" but that she is "ok" and "looking to the light".
The popstar faced widespread criticism when she took part in the all-female space flight aboard Jeff Bezos's New Shepard rocket on 14 April.
She took the 11-minute trip alongside former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, journalist Lauren Sanchez and TV presenter Gayle King.
In her first public response to the backlash to the space flight, which was felt to be tone-deaf and a hollow display of feminism, the 40-year-old American singer commented on a Brazilian fan account's Instagram page.
In response to a video of a billboard in New York fans paid for ahead of her world tour, she said she was "so grateful" to her fans and said they were "in this beautiful and wild journey together".
"I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond," she wrote. "I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year!"
"Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me," Perry continued.
"My therapist said something years ago that has been a game changer, "no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don't already believe about yourself" and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it.
"When the "online" world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.
"What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth. I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that."
The Firework star added: "I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary, I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but…
"I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level UNLOCKS."
Perry is currently on her Lifetimes world tour, a career-spanning run of live shows which includes all the hits from across her multi-million selling albums. It began in Mexico on 23 April.
She is due to play Belfast's SSE Arena on 4 and 5 October 2025.
