Pop star Katy Perry has said the online backlash over her recent space trip has left her feeling "battered and bruised", but reassured fans she was "OK".
It has been two weeks since Perry took a free 11-minute Blue Origin flight to space with five other women, a move which sparked a global pile-on, with people accusing them of being "out of touch".
This latest wave of criticism follows a slew of new music releases from Perry, which performed poorly on music charts.
Ahead of Perry's world tour, fans paid for a billboard in New York supporting the singer, saying they were "proud" of Perry and her "magical journey".
Responding to a video of the billboard on an Instagram fan page, Perry said she was "so grateful" for her fans.
"Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me," she said in her comment.
"When the 'online' world tries to make me a human piñata, I take it with grace and send them love.
"I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed."
Flight slammed as 'out of touch'
Several celebrities have criticised the Blue Origin voyage, with fellow pop star Lily Allen lambasting it as "out of touch" amid the current cost of living crisis.
"Like, we're on the brink of recession. People are really... struggling to make ends meet and put food on their tables," she said on her BBC podcast Miss Me.
However, in a follow-up episode this week, Allen apologised to Perry for "being mean".
"I've been thinking about it a lot, and it was just completely unnecessary to pile on with her," she said.
"I mean, I disagree with what it was that they did, but she wasn't the only person that did it."
Actress Olivia Wilde also weighed in at the time of the all-female space expedition, sharing a meme featuring photos of Perry exiting the capsule on returning to Earth.
In the photos, Perry kisses the ground and holds up a daisy as a tribute to her daughter, Daisy Dove.
Wilde's caption read: "Billion dollars bought some good memes, I guess."
Meanwhile on Tik Tok, actress and model Emily Ratajkowski said the space voyage was "beyond parody".
"Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space. For what?" she said.
"I'm disgusted."
Months of backlash
Perry has been copping backlash since the release of her comeback single Woman's World in July last year.
While Perry said the track had a "satirical" feminist message, it was derided as "tone deaf" and "regressive".
This was soured further by the fact that one of the song's producers was Dr Luke, who was accused of sexual assault by pop star Kesha in 2014.
The claim was dismissed and Dr Luke has denied the allegations, with the two reaching a settlement in 2023 after almost a decade of suits and countersuits.
But Woman's World became Perry's worst-performing single release from an album in her 16-year career.
Her subsequent album 143, released in September, was panned by critics as a "proper flop".
'Sometimes I fall'
In her comments to fans on Wednesday, Perry said she would would continue to remain true to herself, despite the recent negativity directed towards her.
"I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary," she said.
"I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall.
"[But] I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light."
