It was less than two years ago that Katy Perry twerked all over Madonna for a crowd of thousands at Los Angeles' The Forum to see, but the pop stars weren't always allies, and Perry's gone as far as to admit she used to actively protest Madge's music.

In a new, revealing interview with VoguePerry chronicles her strict, Evangelical upbringing, which included skipping traditional schooling in favor of receiving Jesus. And, naturally, this spilled over into music, too.

“Amy Grant was our Madonna," she said. "We knew about Madonna and Marilyn Manson in my family because we picketed their concerts.”

Perry elaborates on her experience as a kid, and says she's still struggling to reconcile her liberal views with conditioned conservatism that's proven tough for her to shake.

"...My house was church on Sunday morning, church on Sunday night, church on Wednesday evening; you don’t celebrate Halloween; Jesus gives you your Christmas presents; we watch Bill O’Reilly on TV," she said. "That was my whole childhood and youth and early teens. I still have conditioned layers dropping off of me by the day.”

And while Perry says she's — resultantly — sometimes slow on the uptake, she is committed to continuing to learn.

“My education started in my 20s, and there is so much to learn still," she said, noting she wasn't “allowed to interact with gay people...But I came out of the womb asking questions, curious from day one, and I am really grateful for that: My curiosity has led me here. Anything I don’t understand, I will just ask questions about.”

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