Katy Perry's Complete Dating History

Elle

7 days ago

Pop star Katy Perry has had a prolific career as a musical artist, with a discography so iconic it even took her to outer space. On earth, she's also made quite a few conquests. Perry has had some very high-profile romances throughout the 2000s, with love affairs that inspired her own music as well as the music of others (ahem, John Mayer). And recently, she was seen out with Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, expanding her romantic reach into politics.
Read all about this artist and muse below. Here's Perry's complete dating history so far.
Actor Johnny Lewis was known for his roles on The O.C. and Sons of Anarchy and for dating Perry for about 18 months in 2006. It was before Perry's career really took off, leaving their relationship fairly unreported. Lewis died in Los Angeles in 2012.
Perry dated the lead singer of the popular band Gym Class Heroes, Travie McCoy, in 2008 into 2009. She broke up with him after less than a year, apparently via email. In 2012, McCoy shared that his drug use likely contributed to the break up, but he added that the email 'destroyed him.'
'It started off with "I love you so much I hate to do this,"' he said. 'Someone that you are ready to spend the rest of your life with sends you a fucking email just shitting on your whole parade. It destroyed me.'
After McCoy, Perry had another fling with musical artist Josh Groban. They broke up and remained friends. He was supposedly surprised when she later wrote a song about him titled 'The One That Got Away.'
On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, he was asked about being her muse and replied, 'We did [date]. We were both very private, and so we realized we were better as friends. And we've been very, very good friends to this day. She's the best. But, I was not expecting that. That was a double take and a spit out my coffee when I saw that.'
Perry met comedian Russell Brand at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. They got married in 2010 and then divorced a little over a year later.
Perry told Vogue in 2013, 'At first when I met him, he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they're like, "I can't handle the equalness." He didn't like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting. Let's just say I haven't heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.'
In 2012, E! reported that Perry was seen holding hands at Coachella with the Florence and the Machine guitarist Robert Ackroyd, but there's no account of why their relationship ended.
Perry and musician John Mayer dated off-and-on from around 2012 to about 2015. However, it was reported as early as 2010 that Mayer had been trying to hook up with Perry, and they even met for what sounds like a date just before she ended up with Brand.
They broke up for the first time in 2013, and a source told E! at the time, 'John still very much loves [Katy] and has feelings for her. It was just going to be too much with what was on his plate.'
In March 2013, she told ELLE U.K., 'I realized I could lose the person I loved, and I had to deal with some things, issues I think a lot of women have. You can be strong in one aspect of your life but submissive in another. In relationships, it was hard for me to speak up and set boundaries. I think a lot of that was to do with the fear of loss.'
She added, 'I think a lot of that was to do with the fear of loss. The men I have gone for are challenging, yes, but they're also wildly intelligent and poetic. I'm not interested in taming anyone. I'm pretty wild myself.'
That June, Perry told Vogue, 'I was madly in love with him. I still am madly in love with him. All I can say about that relationship is that he's got a beautiful mind. Beautiful mind, tortured soul. I do have to figure out why I am attracted to these broken birds.'
Mayer got the message, because they were dating again by the end of that month. Over the next few years, there were lots of reports about them breaking up and getting back together, with sightings as late as July 2015. But they ultimately split for good that year.
In a 2017 interview with the New York Times, Mayer admitted his song 'Still Feel Like Your Man' is about Perry, saying, 'Who else would I be thinking about? And by the way, it's a testament to the fact that I have not dated a lot of people in the last five, six years. That was my only relationship. So it's like, give me this, people.'
In April 2014, during one of her off periods with Mayer, Perry was linked to Diplo. They were seen at Coachella together that month, but it was a brief fling. In 2017, she ranked him as her third best celebrity lover during a James Corden interview (after John Mayer and Orlando Bloom), to which he tweeted, 'I don't even remember having sex.'
Perry and Bloom were first noted as being flirty friends at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards, though they had met years earlier.
They dated for about a year before splitting up in February 2017, releasing a statement to People saying, 'Before rumors or falsifications get out of hand, we can confirm that Orlando and Katy are taking respectful, loving space at this time.'
They remained friends, which Perry passionately tweeted about that same year.
Friendship blossomed again into something more, and they reconciled in 2018. A source told People in March that year, 'They are dating but not necessarily putting a label on it. They are not girlfriend and boyfriend. They do seem very happy together though.'
In 2019, on Valentine's Day, they got engaged.
And in August 2020, they welcomed their daughter, Daisy Dove.
In 2024, Perry opened up in a Call Her Daddy interview about why it took them so long to settle into a relationship, saying, 'We weren't really in it from day one. He was because he had just done a huge time of celibacy, and he had set intentions. I was fresh out of a relationship, and I was like, I can't do this anymore. I need to swim in a different pond, but I had to do a lot real work.'
She added, 'He wasn't playing that cat-mouse game anymore. I was like, "This is boring. I'm moving on." I was so used to this push-pull. I was playing games.'
The couple made their last public appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March 2025, and rumors began circulating that they had split again.
In June 2025, a source told Us Weekly, 'Katy and Orlando have split, but are amicable. It's not contentious at the moment. Katy is of course upset but is relieved to not have to go through another divorce, as that was the worst time in her life.'
The insider added that the breakup was 'a long time coming,' and that they had been living apart since Perry went on tour, because things 'have been tense for months.'
The former couple released a statement on July 3 to People, reading: 'Due to the abundance of recent interest and conversation surrounding Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry's relationship, representatives have confirmed that Orlando and Katy have been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting. They will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is—and always will be—raising their daughter with love, stability, and mutual respect.'
In July 2025, TMZ reported that Perry had been seen on what looked like a dinner date with politician Justin Trudeau. The former Canadian prime minister was with the pop star at Le Violon, in Montreal, on July 28. They were also seen together in Mount Royal Park before dinner, then got drinks after the meal at Taverne Atlantic.
Perry's tour is currently taking her through Canada. Trudeau separated from his former wife, Sophie, in 2023.
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Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.