Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s Nine-Year Relationship Became ‘Borderline Toxic’ Over Time: Source

It was difficult for Katy Perry to contain her emotions on the final night of the Australian leg of her Lifetimes World Tour on June 30. As she held her arms overhead and made a hand-heart gesture, the singer addressed the crowd with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for always being there for me, Australia,” she said with a shaky voice before pulling herself together to perform her hit song “Firework.”

The weepy moment came just days after news broke of Katy’s split from fiancé Orlando Bloom following a nine-year romance. The former couple — who got engaged in 2019 — share daughter Daisy, 4. While Katy, 40, was crying on stage, Orlando, 48, was posting inspirational messages on his Instagram (“each day is a new beginning,” read one) and returning from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ wedding in Venice, where he was spotted partying and cozying up to Sydney Sweeney.

While his notoriously flirty behavior had always been an issue throughout the course of their relationship, the source says there were other factors at play in their split, most notably the stress of their high-octane careers. “Katy and Orlando were both so tightly wound,” says the source, who adds, “They started to bicker and it got worse and worse over time. It became borderline toxic.”

Separate Lives

Katy has been especially on edge. In May 2024, she ended her seven-season gig as a judge on American Idol amid harsh reviews. “The trolling she endured during that time was on another level, and that pressure bled into her home life with Orlando,” says the insider. That same year, she sparked more backlash for working on a new record with Dr. Luke, whom Kesha had sued for sexual assault in 2014. (Katy defended herself on the Call Me Daddy podcast, saying, “He was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with.”) The album, 143, was supposed to mark her big comeback to performing, but critics took a chain saw to it. Variety wrote, “[Katy sounds] as if she’d just punched in between American Idol tapings.”

Her reputation took an even bigger hit in April after she joined Gayle King and four other women on Blue Origin’s trip to space, and later that month footage of her lackluster dance moves on the opening night of her Lifetimes tour went viral. “Katy’s strong but she was very rattled by the criticism,” says the insider.

And Katy wasn’t getting the support she needed from Orlando. “He was sympathetic to a point, but he grew tired of having to constantly console her,” the source says, noting that the actor thought her trip to space “was a bad idea.”

Meanwhile, the Lord of the Rings star (who shares son Flynn, 13, with ex-wife Miranda Kerr) has also been under pressure, work-wise. “He’s been in a creative rut for a while,” says the source, who adds, “He’s been hustling hard for a hit movie after a quiet few years.” (The source says he’s hoping to be cast in the upcoming Lord of the Rings sequel, The Hunt for Gollum.)

The combined stress took a toll. “It reached the point where Katy and Orlando were living separate lives and going for large chunks of time without communicating because the tension was so palpable,” says the insider.

Salt In The Wounds

Orlando’s post-breakup behavior is only making matters worse. On June 27, he made headlines after he was seen hugging a mystery woman in the back of a boat at Bezos’ pre-wedding party (making matters worse, she was later identified as Katy’s pal, stylist Jamie Mizrahi).

He also reportedly partied all weekend at the A-list affair like he seemingly didn’t have a care in the world, giving no hint he’d just broken up with his fiancée of six years. “He’s been pretty insensitive,” says the source, who adds that Katy’s friends aren’t surprised. “Orlando’s always been this way. He’s a total flirt who can’t really stop himself, especially now that he’s officially single. Her friends are telling her she’s better off without him.”