Katy Perry cries as she recalls why she and Orlando Bloom broke up

Katy Perry got emotional as she recalled the time she and her fiancé Orlando Bloom were separated for almost a year.

The 39-year-old “Woman’s World” singer spoke candidly about her relationship with Bloom on a recent episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast.

Bloom and Perry, who began dating in 2016, split in 2017 and reconciled about a year later. They got engaged in 2019 and have a 4-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Perry revealed that she and Bloom only “sort of” spoke during their divorce.

“He had limits,” she said.

The singer also explained that in order to work on her relationship with Bloom, she first had to work on herself and acknowledge her own needs.

“We all have our strengths and our opportunities to grow. But one of his strengths (is) when I’m falling apart, he can step in and be that anchor,” she said of her fiancé. “Because most of the time I’m just like, ‘Alpha, alpha, testosterone, testosterone! I’ve got this, I don’t need any help!'”

“But actually I do need help, I do need a partner,” she continued, bursting into tears.

“I went on a guided trip recently and as strong as I am, I thought, ‘No, I need it, I need it, I have needs. And I need help sometimes,’” she continued. “So it was a beautiful revelation.”

Perry explained that in the early days of their relationship, she and Bloom were in very different places in terms of their personal development and the way they approached relationships.

“We weren’t really in it from day one,” she said. “I mean, he was, in a way, because he had just been celibate for a long time and he had intentions. I had just gotten out of a relationship and I was just like, ‘I can’t do this anymore, I need to swim in a different pond.’ But I still had a lot of real work to do.”

She said a turning point came when Bloom went through the Hoffman Process, an intensive week-long therapy program.

“He went there, and then he came back, and he wasn’t playing this cat-and-mouse game with me anymore, and I thought, ‘This is boring, I’m moving on,'” she said. “Because I was so used to this pushing and pulling … I was playing games. It was a dopamine rush, right? I knew that.”

That marked the beginning of a “really tough year” of personal discovery, Perry said.

When they split toward the end of the year, the singer decided to undergo the same intensive therapy program as Bloom, she said.

“Then I got the tools and I spoke the same language, and it changed my life,” she said. “It saved my life. Without it, I would be dead. I wouldn’t be on this planet without that process, and meditation.”

One thing she learned during this period of self-reflection is that she relied on external validation to bolster her sense of self-worth.

This came to light especially after the release of her 2017 album, “Witness,” which received mixed reviews.

“When ‘Witness’ came out, things started to change and I thought I really loved myself and I really had that center, but in reality, that core was all created by external validation,” she said.

Perry also reflected on what initially attracted her to Bloom, citing his “adventurous spirit” and his loyalty.

She also shared that their bond has grown stronger as they work more on their relationship and themselves.

“The more we do the work, the more we find the next level,” she said. “And sometimes we get stuck and we’re like, ‘Okay, let’s do the work, and this is going to be boring, and I don’t want to do it…’ And then we find the next level, and so we continue the relationship.”