Why was Katy Perry not allowed to watch The Smurfs TV show as a child? Singer's character in the animated movie explored

Katy Perry's first voice-acting role was as Smurfette in the 2011 film The Smurfs, directed by Raja Gosnell. The live-action animated film featured Neil Patrick Harris, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria. Perry, raised by conservative Pentecostal pastors, Mary and Maurice Keith Hudson, saw her role as Smurfette as a small act of rebellion against her strict religious upbringing.

In a 2010 interview with MTV, Perry explained how her mother interpreted the character of Smurfette as "slutty," thereby forbidding the songstress from watching the show.

"My mom thought that Smurfette was a little bit slutty, being the only female in the village," she said.

Katy Perry added:

"And now I showed her. I called her up and was like, 'Guess what, Mom: I'm Smurfette!' ... It's just like another one of those days where it's like, 'Guess what, Mom: I kissed a girl! Guess what, Mom: I'm going to be naked in a music video!'

Set in the Middle Ages, The Smurfs begins with the evil wizard Gargamel chasing the Smurfs into the woods, where Clumsy Smurf stumbles into a grotto that transports them to New York's Central Park. As per Box Office Mojo, the film was a blockbuster, earning over $500 million globally on a $110 million budget, leading to a sequel in 2013.

Katy Perry reprised her role as Smurfette in the sequel in which Gargamel creates an evil version of the Smurfs called the "Naughties."

The sequel earned $347 million worldwide while costing only $105 million. Thereafter, Sony authorized another reboot in the form of an animated series called Smurfs: The Lost Village. Costing only $60 million, the series made a massive $200 million in revenue.

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How is Katy Perry's relationship with her parents?

Colleagues Spring Luncheon 2024 - Source: Getty (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for The Colleagues)

Katy Perry has had a topsy-turvy relationship with her parents over the years. According to a report by NME, Katy Perry's father Keith delivered sermons lambasting his daughter in 2013. He reportedly referred to her as a devil child, asking the members of the congregation to pray for her.

"They ask, how can I preach if I produce a girl who sang about kissing another girl?” Keith said during his speech.

Despite the differences, Perry has often lavished praise on them. For instance, in a September 4 episode of Call Her Daddy, the songstress described her mother as a "saint" for the sacrifices she made to run the family amid a severe cash crunch.

Finally, she inferred that her respect for her mother has increased exponentially ever since she became one herself.

"It was a little volatile," Perry told host Alex Cooper of her religious upbringing. "After having my child — I always respected my mother — but the level of respect for my mother, my parents in general, it just went through the roof."

Perry also added:

"I do think my parents, with the tools that they had and their own upbringings, really did the best that they could. And my mother, you know, she is a saint. She sacrificed every step of the way. She was the last to sit at the dinner table every single time."

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Katy Perry's parents weren't always ultra-religious though. During their youth, her father was reportedly a part of a drug research team that helped manufacture LSD while her mother dated famous American musician Jimi Hendrix.

The paradigm shift happened when Keith claimed that God had paid him a visit in an orchard, imploring him to dedicate his life to Christianity and inspire people around him to do so.