Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom split he wasn't interested in playing games and she needed to work on herself

Katy told Alex Cooper on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast: "We weren't really in it from day one. He was because he had just done a huge time of celibacy and he had set intentions. I was fresh out of a relationship, and I was like, I can't do this anymore. I need to swim in a different pond, but I had to do a lot real work."

Recalling Orlando's return from the retreat, she added: "He went there, and he wasn't playing that cat-mouse game anymore.

"And I was like, 'This is boring. I'm moving on.' I was so used to this push-pull. Because once you have it. I was playing games."

Orlando and Katy then spent a "really tough year" apart before the 'Woman's World' singer decided to go on the retreat too, and it completely changed her life.

She said: "I finally went to Hoffman towards the end of that year that we were separated, and I got the tools.

"We spoke the same language.

"I would be dead without it. I would not be on this planet without that process and meditation. Because the noise got so large.

"When 'Witness' came out and things started to shift, and I thought I really loved myself. I thought I really had that centre, but actually that core was created from outside validation.

"It just helped me rewire what I think about myself, and it helped me connect my head to my heart."

When the couple - who have four-year-old daughter Daisy together - reunited, Katy, 39, show "the worst" of herself to the 47-year-old actor and his steadfast support made her realise he was the right man for her.

She said: "I showed him the worst of me. I was like, 'Here's the next test. I'm gonna show you the craziest b**** you've ever seen,' and he was like, 'I'm not shook.' And I was like, 'You're my baby daddy.' If you're not shook by this, then we're going the distance."

And now, Katy and Orlando - who is also dad to 13-year-old Flynn from his marriage to Miranda Kerr - work together to keep their relationship strong, including by engaging in couple's therapy.

She said: "We want to evolve that's I think why we're in our relationship is to become better humans so we can raise this beautiful human being.

"It's been different layers. The more we do the work, the more we find the next level. And sometimes we get stuck, and we're like, 'OK, let's go in to do the work and this is going to be annoying, and I don't want to do it. We don't have the time. I'm tired.'

"But we're gonna do it. And we find the next level. That's why we're continuing in the relationship."