After a years-long battle in court, pop music star Katy Perry has officially attained the keys to a Mississippi man’s home in California.
Carl Westcott, a successful entrepreneur from Vicksburg, sold the 1930s Montecito mansion to Perry and her husband, Orlando Bloom, for $15 million in July 2020. The 84-year-old who had only lived in the house for two months before the sale quickly filed a complaint against the two celebrities, vouching that “he was under the influence of several intoxicating pain-killing opiates that his physicians instructed him to take” when he signed the documents to sell the eight-bedroom, eleven-bathroom estate.
As Westcott was trying to back out of the deal on his end, Perry and Bloom countersued and eventually won in December 2023 with a judge ruling in the celebrities’ favor and upholding the original sales contract. On May 17, Perry and Bloom finally acquired the property that they plan to use as their family home.
“Westcott presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract,” a portion of the court’s December decision read.
While the court saga over ownership is final, Perry’s legal team is seeking compensation for lost rental value, deferred maintenance, repairs for water damage, and a tree that fell on the property within the last 46 months. The “California Gurls” singer and outgoing American Idol judge will testify in a second phase of the trial in July with whatever number decided on coming off the original purchase price.
Chart Westcott, Carl’s son, maintains that his father was in no mind to sell the home and recently told The Wall Street Journal that Perry is “heartless” and full of “Hollywood hypocrisy and fake empathy.” Westcott, who suffers from Huntington’s disease and now lives in Dallas, is the founder of several companies including First Extended Service Corporation, Westcott Communications, and 1-800-Flowers.
