First it was Rihanna and Lady Gaga infecting my Vogue. And now Katy Perry is on the cover of Vanity Fair. I feel like screaming “FOR WHY?” into a strong wind. But seriously, for why? Katy is a pop artist, and a middling one at that. She has boobs. She’s married to Russell Brand (where’s HIS Vanity Fair cover?!?), and did I mention, she has boobs? She also had a screwed up childhood. That’s about it. Ugh. Stupid Vanity Fair.

You can read the whole VF excerpt of Katy’s interview here. Here are some highlights:

On her multi-layered career: “My career is like an artichoke. People might think that the leaves are tasty and buttered up and delicious, and they don’t even know that there’s something magical hidden at the base of it. There’s a whole other side [of me] that people didn’t know existed.”

On her childhood: “I didn’t have a childhood,” she says, adding that her mother never read her any books except the Bible, and that she wasn’t allowed to say “deviled eggs” or “Dirt Devil.” Perry wasn’t even allowed to listen to secular music and relied on friends to sneak her CDs. “Growing up, seeing Planned Parenthood, it was considered like the abortion clinic,” she tells Robinson. “I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there…. I didn’t know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs. I didn’t have insurance, so I went there and I learned about birth control.”

On her parents: “I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up,” Perry says of her evangelical-minister parents. “Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don’t try to change them anymore, and I don’t think they try to change me. We agree to disagree. They’re excited about [my success]. They’re happy that things are going well for their three children and that they’re not on drugs. Or in prison.” Perry’s mother confirms that she is proud of her daughter’s success, telling Robinson, “The Lord told us when I was pregnant with her that she would do this.”

On religion: “I come from a very non-accepting family, but I’m very accepting,” Perry says of her religious beliefs as an adult. “Russell is into Hinduism, and I’m not [really] involved in it. He meditates in the morning and the evening; I’m starting to do it more because it really centers me. [But] I just let him be him, and he lets me be me.” Perry says she didn’t stick with the mold growing up. “I have always been the kid who’s asked ‘Why?’ In my faith, you’re just supposed to have faith. But I was always like…why?” she says. “At this point, I’m just kind of a drifter. I’m open to possibility…. My sponge is so big and wide and I’m soaking everything up and my mind has been radically expanded. Just being around different cultures and people and their opinions and perspectives. Just looking into the sky.”

Of her marriage to Russell Brand: Perry says that there is “never a dull moment” and that Brand has “never lied to me once. I trust him; there’s just a level of trust that we’ve built up.” When asked about the infamous photo Brand tweeted of her without makeup in the middle of the night, Perry laughs it off. “We were just messing around,” she says, “I didn’t really care. I mean, when I go to rehearsals I look like that. I’m every woman. It takes a village to make me who I am…. You don’t have to wake up looking like, you know, Gisele.”

On marriage and the press: “The press is just not your friend when it comes to a marriage,” Perry explains of her need for privacy in her relationship with Brand. “That’s why we didn’t sell the pictures of our wedding, and we got offered millions of dollars for them, millions.” Why not take the money and give it to charity? Robinson asks. “Well, I can always do that later for something else; maybe if I have a child,” Perry says. “But I’ve seen too much of it with other people—it’s the wrong kind of attention. It detracts from the reason why you exist. We wanted that moment to ourselves.” After ultimately showing a clip of her wedding video at the Grammys, Perry tells Robinson she did it “because I felt the moment was right and not forced. Russell and I had time to savor our moment privately first and then share it with people when we were ready, and not for a paycheck. I loved the idea, because I thought it was beautiful and artistically accompanied the song I wrote for him. Plus, it was Valentine’s eve!”

On the music, and her boobs: “I don’t care what people say about my relationship; I don’t care what they say about my boobs. People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I’m getting incredible feedback from my music.” But despite her immense fame, Perry never forgets what it took to get to where she is. “I don’t take anything for granted,” she says. “There are 500 other girls right behind me. And I know that, because I was one of them. I remember what it’s like to be someone who’s always trying to get there—sending out tons of e-mails … trying to connect with some person who could connect me with some other person. And I wouldn’t be working at this pace now if I didn’t truly know that fame is fleeting.”

On working and touring: “If the core, the honesty, my story, isn’t working, then all those bells and whistles aren’t going to work, either,” Perry says of staying focused on her music. “Sometimes I can be distracted by the glamour and the fabulousness. But my husband always reminds me to keep the core intact…. I just think I have to appreciate every day, every opportunity, work hard, and continue to evolve as an artist. I already know my future evolution, where I’m going to go. I mean, I’m touring in f-cking Indonesia, for crying out loud.”

[From Vanity Fair]

So, basically, this interview is for people who didn’t have the energy to read her interview in Rolling Stone last year, where she basically said all of the same stuff, only in a more interesting way.

Oh, and every time I hear about how much Russell Brand meditates, it kind of cracks me up. He has such an addictive personality – his addictions used to be drugs, alcohol and a daily multitude of random biscuits, and now he’s addicted to meditation. What happens when meditation won’t cure his itch?

VF cover courtesy of Vanity Fair online, additional photos courtesy of WENN.