It was the celebrity feud to end all celebrity feuds.
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift's bitter war of words broke out over back-up dancers in 2013, lasting four long, snake-emoji filled years.
Then, as though it had never even happened, the two music megastars embraced in matching fast-food costumes, signalling a white flag to the world via Swift's You Need To Calm Down film clip.
Opening up toStellar in today's edition, Perry revealed burying the hatchet was harder than it looked.
When asked how she would characterise her friendship with Swift following last year's truce, Perry revealed they're "not very close".
"Well, we don't have a very close relationship because we are very busy, but we text a lot," she said.
"I was impressed by her documentary (Netflix's Miss Americana) because I saw some self-awareness starting to happen and I saw a lot of vulnerability. I was really excited for her to be able to show that to the world: that things aren't perfect, they don't have to be and it's more beautiful when they aren't."
Touching on the end of modern pop music's biggest feud, she said: "Even though it was difficult, it was important to make that appearance in the music video because people want people to look up to.
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift hugging in the video for You Need to Calm Down shocked fans. Photo / Supplied
"We wanted it to be an example of unity. Forgiveness is important. It's so powerful. If you can forgive your enemy, that's amazing. As difficult as it is!"
Last year, Perry similarly spoke about her friendship with Swift in a candid interview with Kyle and Jackie O, confirming she sent the first olive branch — literally.
"It was a process. I sent her a literal olive branch and a note apologising for my part in all of it when she started her Reputation tour," Perry said.
In May of last year, Swift shared the gesture with her Instagram followers as she opened her US tour, the note reading in part:
"Hey Old Friend —
I've been doing some reflecting on past miscommunications and hurt feelings between us. I really want to clear the air."
Perry also wrote in the note she was "deeply sorry". She told Kyle and Jackie O it had seemed like the right time to reach out after years of frostiness.
"I just thought she was about to embark on something new and big and needed the support. And truly as I was finishing my (tour) I realised how much in common we have," she said.
"We started talking a little bit and … trusting each other. Because it's about trusting," Perry said.
From there, Swift got Perry's phone number and texted her with a "really cool idea". She invited Perry to her house, baking her "delicious" cookies and introducing her pop rival to her beloved cats.
And that's how Perry ended up in Swift's You Need To Calm Down music video, the unlikely pair shocking fans with a friendly embrace while dressed as a hamburger and fries.
The Swift/Perry truce ends one of music's most explosive feuds, with the two singers trading bitter barbs in recent years. Swift even penned a hit single, Bad Blood, about their falling out.
Perry told host James Corden during a 2017 episode of Car Pool Karaoke that "honestly, it's really like she started it, and it's time for her to finish it".
During that same interview, Perry confirmed the feud started when the pair fought over backing dancers.
"It's about backing dancers. It's so crazy! OK, so there are three backing dancers that went on tour with her tour, right? And they asked me before they went on tour if they could go, and I was like, 'Yeah, of course. I'm not on a record cycle, and get the work, and she's great and all that. But I will be on a record cycle in about a year, so be sure to put a 30-day contingency in your contract so you can get out if you want to join me when I say I'm going back on'. So that year came up, right? And I texted all of them — because I'm very close with them — and I said, 'Look, just FYI: I'm about to start, I want to put the word out there'. And they said, 'All right, we're going to talk to management about it'. And they did. And they got fired. And I tried to talk to her about it, and she wouldn't speak to me.
"It was a full shutdown, and then she writes a song about me, and I'm like, OK, cool, cool, cool, that's how you want to deal with it? Karma!"
