Katy Perry Ranks As Forbes' Highest Paid Female Celebrity
Katy Perry isn’t shy about making money. The pop star graces the cover of the new issue of Forbes, which has named her the third highest-paid celebrity for its 2015 list. She’s only runner-up to Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao, whose salaries for their boxing match earlier this year propelled them to the top of the chart. And in her cover story, Perry explains her no-holds-barred approach to her career.
“I am proud of my position as a boss, as a person that runs my own company,” she tells the magazine. “I’m an entrepreneur… I don’t want to shy away from it. I actually want to kind of grab it by its balls.”
At one point, the Forbes writer seems to take a subtle dig at Perry’s rumored enemy Taylor Swift, writing, “Instead of grumping about Spotify like many of her fellow artists, she’s simply adapted to the times.” And it’s true that Perry doesn’t seem as anti-streaming as her fellow pop star. “Music has changed,” she says, reportedly shrugging. “The record is that launching pad for all kinds of other creative branches.”
Perry is all about launching pads, and that’s how she views her first hit, “I Kissed A Girl.” She recalls, “People were talking about bisexuality a lot that year and also talking about sexuality being fluid. It was zeitgeisty. It was me taking everybody’s conversation and funneling it into a song. I also knew it had that ‘ooh, ahh’ factor. I knew I could open the most doors with that first, but I wasn’t going to let that define me.”
Similarly, Perry doesn’t want to be defined as “Katy Perry” all the time. “I like to dress up and be Katy Perry when it’s appropriate, when I’m promoting something,” she says. “But I’m Katheryn Hudson on the business side.”
Photo: Getty Images
