Katy Perry suffered with "bouts of situational depression"

She said: "I had bouts of situational depression. My heart was broken last year because, unknowingly, I put so much validity in the reaction of the public, and the public didn't react in the way I had expected to. Which broke my heart."

And the singer decided to go to the Hoffman Institute in California to give her "a new foundation."

She added: "For years, my friends would go and come back completely rejuvenated, and I wanted to go, too. I was ready to let go of anything that was holding me back from being my ultimate self. Music is my first love and I think it was the universe saying, 'OK, you speak all of this language about self-love and authenticity, but we are going to put you through another test and take away any kind of validating 'blankie.' Then we'll see how much you do truly love yourself.' That brokenness, plus me opening up to a greater, higher power and reconnecting with divinity, gave me a wholeness I never had.

"I recommend it to everyone, my good friends and other artists who are looking for a breakthrough. There are a lot of people who are self-medicating through validation in audiences, through substances, through continually running away from their realities - denial, withdrawal. I did that for a long, long time too ... The biggest lie that we've ever been sold is that we as artists have to stay in pain to create."

And the 33-year-old singer has become more "spirituality and heart wholeness" as of late.

She told Vogue Australia: "My mom has prayed for me my entire life, hoping I'd come back to God. I never left Him, I was just a little bit secular. I was more materialistic and more career-driven. I've become more about spirituality and heart wholeness."