Singer Katy Perry is suing a disabled veteran after he tried reneging on a deal to sell the celebrity his home.
The U.S. Sun reported, in July 2020, Carl Westcott, now 85, had agreed to sell Perry his $14.2 million mansion in Montecito, California.
But in August that year, Westcott tried backing out of the deal, claiming his judgment had been impaired by pain medication and a recent surgery.
Westcott suffers from Huntington’s disease, a degenerative disorder that causes the brain’s neurons to break down and die.
The 85-year-old, who also happens to have founded 1-800-Flowers, sued Perry and Bernie Gudvi, her business manager, whose defense was that Westcott had merely changed his mind.
In December 2023, a judge ruled in Perry’s favor, and Westcott handed over the keys a few months later.
But Perry wasn’t finished.
In 2024, she sued Westcott for $6 million in damages: alleged lost rental value, delayed maintenance, repairs for water damage, and a fallen tree, according to The U.S. Sun.
Westcott’s family was in disbelief over the lawsuit.
Should Perry simply return the property and find another home whose owner actually wants to sell?
“It was shocking when it happened in the first place,” said Chart Westcott, Carl’s 39-year-old son.
“If an old man apologizes and says he made a mistake,” he continued, “and she’s a rich pop star who can buy any other house in the world, you’d think she would let the old man go on his way.”
Westcott has been bedridden in a hospice for more than 18 months.
The U.S. Sun asked Chart if he had anything to say to Perry and her husband, actor Orlando Bloom.
“It’s a hard question, because I don’t feel like anyone is listening — they sold their souls long ago … they chose this,” Chart said.
“It’s unforgivable how they have conducted their affairs. But it’s how the Hollywood elite system works — I’ve seen this up close — they treat ordinary people like dirt, it’s been a difficult time for the family,” he said.
The claim will go before the court in August 2025.
This is the second time in recent years that Perry had gone head-to-head with the elderly in lawfare.
She was recently embroiled in a real estate controversy involving a convent of nuns.
The nuns had lived in the convent since 1972, when they pooled together $600,000 to purchase a sprawling chateau property in Los Angeles, California.
At one point, 52 nuns lived in the mansion-turned-convent, which came to be known as the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to Business Insider.
But by 2011, only five nuns remained, and under pressure from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, they were forced to leave and sell the building.
“We had to do what we were told,” Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, said. “I think it’s because they were trying to sell our property. They had been trying for years even when we lived there. But none of us ever wanted to leave.”
Around 2013, Perry offered $14.5 million to Archbishop Jose Gomez, who had agreed to sell the property without input from the nuns.
Sisters Rita Callanan, 81, and Holzman had researched the singer and found a video in which she claimed to have sold her soul to the Devil.
“Even mentioning that she would sell her soul to Satan is against our principles and beliefs,” Holzman said in 2015. “Katy Perry represents everything we don’t believe in. It would be a sin to sell to her.”
So, believing that they owned the convent, the Sisters instead sold the building to restaurateur Dana Hollister for $15.5 million.
Hollister moved in, but a judge voided the sale only months afterward.
Perry sued Hollister in 2015, claiming she took advantage of the nuns and interfered with her own purchase.
“It’s interesting she has all this girl power and she’s running over a woman and five nuns,” Hollister said of Perry. “We are going to Rome. We are not quitting now. We are just getting warmed up.”
Perry won the lawsuit in 2017, and the judge ordered Hollister to pay the archdiocese $3.47 million in attorney fees and Perry’s company $1.57 million.
Ultimately, Perry didn’t purchase the property due to conflicts with the Vatican.
Hollister filed for bankruptcy, and Holzman and Callanan accompanied the developer to bankruptcy court in 2018.
“Katy Perry, please stop,” Holzman said, standing outside the courtroom. “It’s not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people.”
Just hours later, Holzman collapsed and died during the court session.
Perry has “blood on her hands,” Callanan reportedly said.
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