Katy Perry’s iconic blonde pixie cut in 2017 was more than a bold fashion statement, it was the result of a hair emergency, now revealed by her stylist.
In a candid conversation on the May 20 episode of Kristin Cavallari’s Let’s Be Honest podcast, renowned hair colorist Justin Anderson dropped a bombshell: “I burnt her hair off.”
The confession came as the 44-year-old stylist detailed the behind-the-scenes chaos that led Perry, now 40, to undergo her dramatic hair transformation. According to Anderson, Perry initially attempted to shift from her signature jet-black locks to platinum blonde, a notoriously risky process. “It’s virtually impossible,” he explained, revealing that she had already endured repeated bleaching sessions from another stylist before coming to him with severely damaged hair.
Hair Crisis Behind Katy Perry’s Short Pixie
“When she came to me, they had been bleaching it over and over, and her hair was crisp,” Anderson recalled. Despite his warnings that the hair would “break off,” the Firework*singer insisted they proceed. “Push it,” she told him.
What followed was a hairstylist’s worst nightmare. “As I got to the top of her head, all of the foils on her head just started falling out,” he admitted. “It was so bad… the worst experience for a hairdresser to ever deal with.”
The hair breakage left Perry with little choice but to chop her hair into the now-famous blonde pixie, a striking look that drew both admiration and shock from fans and media alike.
The Blonde Debut & Emotional Undercurrents
Perry first showcased a shoulder-length blonde bob at the Golden Globes in January 2017, just before her high-profile split from now-fiancé Orlando Bloom. But it was her March 2017 pixie cut reveal that truly grabbed headlines.
On Instagram, she shared a video of her new look, captioning it “So happy,” and credited famed stylist Chris McMillan for the cut and Anderson for the icy hue. “I wasn’t ready until now,” she wrote in another post, tagging McMillan and playfully asking, “What do you think, Chris?”
McMillan replied with warmth: “I love it, are you kidding? I’ve been wanting to do this ever since the day I met you.”
A Journey To Her True Self
While the cut may have started as damage control, Perry later opened up about the deeper emotional motivations behind her drastic change. During a June 2017 livestream promoting her album Witness, she told therapist Siri Sat Nam Singh, “I so badly want to be Katheryn Hudson, that I don’t even want to look like Katy Perry anymore sometimes, and that is a little bit of why I cut my hair.”
Later, in an interview with Byrdie in August 2017, she reflected on her evolving beauty standards: “Now, I can’t hide behind [my hair]. I wanted to know that I could still feel beautiful and love myself without it. It’s fun, it’s freeing, it’s liberating.” She added, “I don’t think that ‘sexiness’ and ‘femininity’ is just one thing, long hair. I suppose the goal is to redefine what femininity means to me.”
The Look That Became A Legacy
From a beauty mishap to a bold reinvention, Perry’s 2017 pixie cut became a symbol of resilience, freedom, and self-discovery. Though it began as an unplanned result of over-bleaching, it transformed into a cultural moment that redefined how fans saw both Katy Perry and Katheryn Hudson.
And now, with the truth out in the open, fans have yet another reason to admire her vulnerability and perhaps think twice before attempting platinum blonde without a pro.
