Orlando Bloom & Katy Perry's California Mansion Drama, Explained

Since the start of the 2020s, pop star Katy Perry has had to deal with legal troubles regarding the ownership of her luxurious Montecito mansion near Santa Barbara, California. While Perry did win a major battle in the case, the war continues, with Perry's fiancé Orlando Bloom being dragged to the front lines (i.e. the courtroom) as well.

According to People, it all started back in July 2020, when Perry purchased the eight-bedroom property for $15 million. Perry had planned to use the sprawling mansion as a family home for herself, Bloom, and their daughter Daisy Dove, who was born the following month. However, mere days after Perry bought the house, its owner Carl Westcott, an elderly entrepreneur, tried to back out of the deal. Westcott, who was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease in 2015, claimed he was not in his right mind when he agreed to sell the property (which he himself had bought only two months prior for $11.25 million).

Westcott sued Perry's business manager Bernie Gudvi in August 2020, and Perry countersued. The case ultimately went to trial in September 2023. Just two months later, the court tentatively ruled in Perry's favor, stating that Westcott had "presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract" (via People). Then, in May 2024, The Wall Street Journal obtained property records confirming that Perry had officially been declared the owner of the house. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

The court scheduled the second phase of the trial between Perry and Westcott for February 2025. In Touch Weekly reported in October 2024 that Perry was seeking a total of $5.5 million in damages. Perry initially requested $2.67 million in damages for loss of use, as she was unable to rent out the home during the legal battle. But according to Westcott's lawyers, she bumped that up to $3.5 million after further consideration. They added that Perry was seeking an additional $2 million in "ordinary money damages," based on a claim from Perry's manager that Westcott may have neglected to adequately maintain the property before handing it over to Perry.

That brings us to a November 2024 report from The New York Post, which revealed that Westcott's legal team had hit Orlando Bloom with a civil subpoena. This means Bloom would have to appear in court for the second part of the trial, adding more drama to what tends to be a surprisingly normal relationship between him and Perry. "Orlando Bloom has been supervising renovations and repairs," Westcott's son said in a statement to The Post. "He is a material witness that Katy Perry is trying to do far more than make us pay for repairs, she is trying to make us pay for renovations. Standing up for the nuns and other targets of her bullying, we have the determination and the power to fight back."