Pop star Katy Perry is once again headed to court with a property dispute.
This time, an elderly veteran is claiming he never meant to sell her and husband Orlando Bloom his sprawling $15 million Santa Barbara estate. And if this case sounds familiar, that’s because it is. In 2014, Perry went toe-to-toe with two elderly nuns, Catherine Rose Holzman and Rita Callanan, when an archbishop sold the convent out from under them, which they claimed he had no right to do.
The saddest detail of that ordeal? Holzman collapsed and died in the courtroom after going on record with her urgent plea, saying “Katy Perry, please stop. It’s not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people.” Callanan accused the “Dark Horse” singer of having “blood on her hands.”
The optics of a millionaire celebrity battling an elderly veteran and two nuns over property may not be great, but the details of each situation make both cases worthy of debate. And of going to court.
First up, Perry’s most recent debacle. The 38-year-old mom of one is being sued by Carl Westcott, the founder of 1-800-Flowers.
A report obtained from Daily Mail found that Westcott, 83, said he signed sale documents in July 2020 when he was under the influence of painkillers after having major back surgery. Westcott had also been battling Huntington’s disease since 2015, which he is saying contributed to his inability to agree to binding legal documents.
Westcott tried to back out of the sale days later when he said the influence of the painkillers wore off, but Perry and Bloom refused his request and threatened to sue if he did not go through with the sale. A representative for Perry and Bloom sent a letter following Westcott’s request to rescind the documents, saying he was legally obligated to complete the sale of the home.
Westcott claims he never listed the home for sale and never asked a real estate professional to help sell it. He said he purchased the 9,285 square-foot, eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom home in May 2020, just two months before selling it to Perry and Bloom. Westcott further stated he had purchased with the intention of staying there “for the rest of his life.”
The plaintiff had back surgery in July 2020 and three days later signed the sale paperwork. Westcott was allegedly presented with a written offer from Perry and Bloom for more money than he paid for the property in May.
“Upon discharge from the hospital, Mr. Westcott was prescribed at least two opiates in pill form that he was to continue taking for pain, which he took as prescribed several times each day,” the complaint states.
“’The combination of his age, frailty from his back condition and recent surgery, and the opiates he was taking several times a day rendered Mr. Westcott of unsound mind.”
The veteran’s lawyers argue he was “unable to understand the nature and probable consequences of his actions” due to being on pain medication. They say their client is “in the final years of his life and cannot sell his home.”
Westcott will not attend the trial because he is mentally incapacitated and bedridden, leaving his family to fight the celebrity couple over who should be the rightful owners of the estate. One person who is part of the family is “Real Housewives of Dallas” star Kameron Westcott.
On the same day the news of Carl’s lawsuit started making headlines, Kameron discussed her father-in-law’s health battles on Instagram.
“My incredible father-in-law Carl has been suffering Huntington’s disease in silence….” she wrote, sharing photos of the family. “Before Carl’s health continues to deteriorate I wanted to share some of our favorite happier memories with him and use his story, to share with you information on Huntington’s and to bring light to this terrible disease!”
A nonjury trial is scheduled for August 21, 2023, per USA Today. The current status of the home’s occupants, if any, remains unclear.
Perry’s previous property dispute also made it to court. In 2014, Perry made an offer on a $14.5 million convent which belonged to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an order of nuns who combined their money to purchase the property for $600,000 in 1972. As the population of nuns decreased, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles forced five remaining nuns to move out in 2011 despite them wishing to remain living there.
Two of the resident sisters met with Perry as she tried to convince them to sell to her, per a report from Insider. They said Perry was “nice,” but decided they would rather sell the property to restaurant owner Dana Hollister.
That was partly because of statements Perry had made. Holzman said she found a video of Perry joking about selling her soul to the devil in exchange for success.
“Even mentioning that she would sell her soul to Satan is against our principles and beliefs,” Holzman told Billboard in 2015. “Katy Perry represents everything we don’t believe in. It would be a sin to sell to her.”
Hollister and the sisters completed the sale and the restaurateur moved in. He wanted to turn the convent into a hotel, but he got sued by Perry and the archdiocese, who claimed the nuns didn’t have the right to sell on their own in the first place. Eventually, the Vatican got involved.
In 2017, an L.A.-based judge ruled that Perry did have the right to purchase the property. The singer won her case against Hollister, who then declared bankruptcy.
Holzman and Callanan were the two nuns most involved in the legal drama. After Holzman died in court, her nephew Brian Holzman told RadarOnline, “[Katy Perry] is a pretty evil woman. It sounds like she is at it again. She is who she is, and she’s going to do what she’s going to do. It’s all about money and greed!”
Maybe the most perplexing detail of all is that Perry keeps getting into battles over California property after going on record saying how she prefers living outside the Hollywood “bubble.”
“I’m like, living in Kentucky, and I have for almost a month now. And that’s quite an amazing experience. Because it reminds you that Hollywood is not America,” the “I Kissed a Girl” singer told Chelsea Handler in May 2023, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
She also discussed how living in other parts of the country, especially rural areas, can help celebrities understand how most people live.
“You need to remember that,” Perry said. “Because I think you can understand people better.”