They may hide it well, but many celebrities that we know and love for seeming so liberal and open-minded actually grew up in very conservative religious homes before choosing their own path.
1. Katy Perry.
Turns out Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” had a bit of a richer backstory than you may have thought!
“The atmosphere I grew up in was 100 percent Christian ,” she said. “How was I going to reconcile that with a gospel-singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro-conversion camps?”
“I Kissed a Girl” was Katy’s way of breaking free from her religious family and rebelling from how she was raised.
“What I did know was I was curious and even then, I knew sexuality wasn’t [black and white]”.
Surprisingly, Katy’s pastor father was able to eventually come around to it.
“I was a little concerned, yeah, ’cause I thought my ministry after 30-something years is over. But, you know what? Never had a problem,” he said .
2. Amber Heard.
Amber was raised an extremely Christian family, but had to break free in order to come out as bisexual to her parents.
”I remember when I told them about my relationship, that I was in love with this woman,” she said. “I remember at the beginning of that it was just tears. It was tears.”
3. Justin Bieber.
Justin grew up in a very devout Christian household. But in the thick of his rise to fame, he lost touch with his faith and was focused a lot more on hedonism.
Although he broke free of religion temporarily, he did, however, find his way back.
“I am set free from bondage and shame,” he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“I am a child of the most high God and he loves me exactly where I am, how I am, for who I am,” he said .
4. Jack Nicholson.
Jack’s father was a polygamist Catholic, leading him to believe that his mother was his sister for many years. He was ultimately raised Catholic by his grandmother .
But as an adult, evidently, Jack created a life for himself that his family would probably not approve of.
5. Selena Gomez.
Similarly to her ex-boyfriend, Justin Bieber, Selena was raised Catholic, but has since chosen a non-traditional Catholic lifestyle.
“That word [religion] freaks me out sometimes, you know?,” she said . “I don’t know if it’s necessarily that I believe in religion, as much as I believe in faith and a relationship with God.”
6. Jessica Alba.
Jessica has described her upbringing as a “very conservative — a traditional, Catholic, Latin American family”.
However, she has described herself as extremely liberal and feminist .
7. Nicole Scherzinger.
You might be surprised to know that Nicole was raised very Catholic — her father is a priest, in fact.
As you may know, Nicole chose a particularly non-traditionally Catholic image in show business. She has also spoken out and defended homosexuality. However, she maintains that she still identifies as Catholic .
8. Brad Pitt.
Brad Pitt was raised by Southern Baptist parents that demanded he raise his own children the same way.
However, Brad has made it clear that he is a militant Athiest, with no plans of raising his children to be religious .
9. Jimmy Fallon.
Jimmy Fallon revealed that when he was younger, he had plans of becoming a priest . He thought it was his “calling”.
However, he luckily ended up choosing a career in comedy instead and has admitted that he hardly attends church these days.
10. Jim Carrey.
Although Jim grew up with Christian values, he has taken a huge step back from religion altogether and has nearly described it as a dying art.
“I thnk organized religion is fading and changing the Pope ws a corporate maneuver bt how u worship is your choice,” he tweeted .
11. Madonna.
Despite being raised by Roman Catholic parents, Madonna chose a very different route — encouraging others to “question” religion.
“I have a funny relationship with religion. I’m a big believer in ritualistic behavior as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody. But I’m not a big fan of rules. And yet we cannot live in a world without order. But for me, there is a difference between rules and order. Rules people follow without question,” she said .
12. Hugh Laurie.
Hugh revealed that his parent’s relationship with religion, while he was growing up, has made him distant with faith.
“If there’s a god, how come there’s religion? Hm? Answer me that, with your fancy words, and your roundhouse kicks to the head,” he once tweeted .
RELATED STORIES
13. Anne Hathaway.
Anne was raised in a strict Catholic household. At one point, she even considered becoming a nun.
But all that changed when her brother came out as gay, inspiring her to convert away from religion.
“The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?,” she said .
