Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Katy Perry Versus The Nuns

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Katy Perry nun story centers around a controversial real estate dispute involving the pop star, the Catholic Church, and a group of elderly nuns in Los Angeles. In 2015, Perry attempted to purchase a former convent for $14.5 million, with approval from the Archdiocese of L.A., but the nuns who had lived there objected, claiming they had the right to sell the property to someone else.

This episode is brought to you by Total Wine and More, where you'll always find something you'll love. Like if you're in your local Total Wine and ask for a recommendation on a bourbon, you're going to end up loving it. Honestly, the prices make it easy to say yes to grabbing a little extra, like your go-to bottle of Cabernet. And if you're not sure what to grab, the team can point you in the right direction. Shop Total Wine and More in store or online and get everything you need at the lowest prices. Spirits are not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly. B-21. Disney Plus wants to know, are you ready? Yes!

For Marvel Studios, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, now streaming on Disney Plus. Let's do this. One of the best Marvel movies of all time is now streaming on Disney Plus. Hey, you weren't listening to me. I said, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, is now streaming on Disney Plus. Meet the New Avengers. That's cool, then. Marvel Studios, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, rated PG-13.

Now streaming on, you guessed it, Disney Plus. Look, I'm not saying Katie Perry unalived a nun, but you gotta hear this story. So this is Katie Perry, the pop star. You know Katie Perry. And one day in 2014, Katie decides to take some of that pop star money and buy herself a big-ass mansion in Los Angeles. So she looks around and she finds one for sale, this monstrosity. Now, Katie apparently really wants this house, like she'll do anything for it. Maybe even unalive someone. I'm not saying she unalive someone, but, you know, just listen to this story. So here's the thing about this house. It is huge. 30,000 square feet. It's even got a pool shaped like a

freaking fish. In fact, this house is so big that it's actually not a house at all. Traditionally, it's been a convent where a bunch of elderly nuns live. And we'll get back to these nuns. But first, we got to talk about Catholic priests, specifically ones who do. Diddle boys. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, abuse in the Catholic Church as a whole was rampant for decades, particularly in the Archdiocese in Los Angeles. And Archdiocese is sort of like a collection of churches. So this collection of churches in Los Angeles had some pretty serious, shmactual abuse accusations thrown at them in the early 90s and 2000s. And one day, boom, they get sued. And so in 2007, the Archdiocese agreed.

to settle with the victims of the abuse and pay them a settlement of $660 million. And so now these churches need to pay off this huge molestation settlement so they decide to make some money by selling a property they own. That property? The convent. However, there's a problem.

Those elderly nuns I mentioned, they live there. And now these nuns, we'll just call them the nuns. There's only five of them, but they've been living there. for decades. But the Archdiocese is like, whatever, bitches, we own this place. And in 2011, boom, they kicked them all out. And this kicks off a whole dispute. Because see, the nuns feel like

they own the property. Because back in 1971, they originally pooled all of their money together and purchased it themselves using every dollar they had saved. However, for some reason, the Archdiocese feels like the property belongs to them. And because they feel like it it belongs to them. They're like, fuck you, we're selling it. And that is when in 2014, along comes Katie Perry, looking to take some of her pop star money and buy herself a big ass mansion. And she sees this convent and she loves it. She'll do anything to get it. She wants to turn it into a house. So she offers $14.5 million. And the archdiocese, they accept, like immediately. They don't ask the nun's permission or anything. They just agree and the deal

starts moving forward. And so of course, the nuns are pissed. I mean, they've lived there for decades, and the church is just going to come along and sell it out from under them? And to make it even worse, the nuns look Katie Perry up. I mean, they don't know who she is. They're nuns. And let's just say they are not super impressed with her work. Because, you know, she has songs like, I kissed a girl, and you're so gay. But specifically, in one interview back in the day, Pary made a joke about selling her soul to the devil. It didn't work out, and so I sold my soul to the devil. And so the nuns, they can't let this slide.

I mean, they can't allow their old home to be occupied by someone who sold their soul to the devil. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese, to their credit, they don't want the nuns to be upset. They want all of this to go down smoothly. And so they arrange a meeting at the property between the nuns and Katie Perry. And so one day, in 2015, Katie Perry, She's up to the place, and she's trying to charm these nuns, insisting that she didn't really literally sell her soul to the devil, that she's actually a rather religious person herself. And in Katie Perry's defense, she did grow up in an extremely Christian household.

Like both of her parents were Pentecostal pastors, they were only allowed to listen to gospel music. Her parents were so extreme Christian, she wasn't allowed to refer to deviled eggs as devil's eggs. She had to call them angeled eggs, and I'm not making that up. And so Katie explains this to these nuns. Then she shows them the Jesus tattoo that she has on her wrist. And I'm not sure how impressed nuns generally are with tattoos, but whatever, she showed them. Then, in order to further convince them of how super Christian she is, she offers to sing, oh happy day, a well-known church song, and she's going to sing it a cappella. But she has to to pull out her phone to look up the lyrics, which has the nuns giving her the side eye.

Anyway, it's a super awkward meeting, and the nuns aren't impressed, and their minds aren't changed one bit. However, the Catholic Church is very powerful, and they are determined to sell this property to Katie, and unfortunately, there isn't much the nuns can do. Until... At some point, the nuns decide two can play at this game. I mean, they feel like they own the property fair and square. And so they come up with a plan to sell it themselves.

And that is when this woman steps in. Her name's Hollister. And Hollister's 54. She's a rich businesswoman. She owns a lot of restaurants. And she comes along and offers to buy the place from the nuns and keep it open and running by turning it into a boutique hotel. And I guess the nuns are cool with that because they agree to sell it behind the Archdiocese back.

So now you have two completely. repeating sales of the same property happening at the same time. But whatever, the nuns, they hand over the deed to Hollister, and she moves in right away. And Katie Perry, oh, Katie Perry is not going to let this slide. She feels like her purchase of the place was already in motion and legal, so she's like, oh, hell no. And she files a lawsuit, but not against the nuns, because that would be terrible PR. Katie Perry sues a bunch of elderly nuns.

No, rather she sues Hollister, claiming that her purpose. purchase of the place is not legit. And this turns into an all-out legal war. I mean, two wealthy women battling it out in court over this former nun convent. And this legal battle goes on for years. And I'm sure it's very stressful for all of them, especially the 80-year-old nuns involved. But in 2017, they finally go to trial. And at the end of it all, a judge rules that the nuns, for some legal reason, do need permission from the Vatican in order to. sell the convent, which means Hollister's purchase of the property is invalid, which means Katie can move forward with buying the house from the Archdiocese. She won. And to make it worse

for Hollister, right after that, a jury finds that she's also guilty of malice and fraud in her attempt to interfere with the sale of this property. So now she's ordered to pay Katie Perry and the church $10 million in damages. And that is a lot of money. In fact, it's so, it's so much money that it literally bankrupts Hollister. Like she has to go to bankruptcy court. And so then one day in 2018, she goes to bankruptcy court. And two of the nuns go with her because they're all like friends now. I mean, they've been in this lawsuit together for a long time and they're there to support their friend. And then on the steps of the courthouse, one of the nuns speaks to the news media and she pleads for Katie Perry to stop. Like stop with all the legal actions against her friend.

stop. It's not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people. And sadly, those words would be this nun's last words, because hours later, in the courtroom, she collapses and dies from a heart attack. She was 89 years old. And one of the other nuns claims the heart attack was caused by stress directly related to this Katie Perry lawsuit. I'm not saying Katie Perry unaligned a I'm just saying this other nun thinks so. Anyway, at the end of it all, Katie still needs approval from the Vatican to purchase the property. And they're unable to work out a deal. And so her option to buy the place expires and everyone just kind of moves on.

So, in the end, after all that, no one got the property. Wow.