Katy Perry Covers Vanity Fair, Slams Her Strict Christian Upbringing

Katy Perry opens up about her strict Christian upbringing in the June issue of Vanity Fair, telling the magazine, "I didn't have a childhood."

Perry says her mother didn't let her read any books except the Bible -- and that she wasn't allowed says words like "deviled eggs" or "Dirt Devil" were verboten."

The "Teenage Dream" singer had to secretly visit a Planned Parenthood clinic to get educated about birth control. "It was considered like the abortion clinic...I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there," Perry admits to the magazine. "I didn't know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs."

Perry, the daughter of evangelical Christian ministers, says her parent's religious values have now evolved. "I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up,...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."

As for her husband's spiritual practices, Perry says, "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 let's me be me," she says.

The June 2011 issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands May 10.

Credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vanity Fair