It’s a revenge tale as old as time. You split up, your ex jets off on a lads’ holiday (in this celebrity version it’s on a private jet to billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding), where he mingles with a harem of gorgeous women, while you’re left bawling your eyes out while watching Love Actually (in this version, you’re on stage in Australia for your World Tour).
However, fast forward three weeks and you’ve been swept off your feet by a new man (a hot politician who used to be Canada’s Prime Minister) while your dapper ex is left with some serious pie on his face.
Yes, you’re Katy Perry, and your ex is Hollywood hunk Orlando Bloom – and a source tells Heat that this scenario is exactly what’s happening right now for the showbiz exes, with Orlando said to be finding post-divorce life a lot harder than he had envisaged.
The insider tells us, ‘When he and Katy first split, Orlando was confident he’d be able to attract anyone he wanted, but it’s not working out the way he expected. The ladies aren’t taking him seriously and just think he’s a cheeseball and he hasn’t had much luck in the dating scene as a result.
‘He’s been rejected by Sydney Sweeney, which was a big disappointment for him, not to mention embarrassing, and eyes are rolling whenever he walks by. He’s coming across as a creepy middle-aged man while Katy has come out smelling like a rose.’
The former couple, who had been together for nine years and share four-year-old daughter Daisy Dove together, confirmed their split after months of speculation on 4thJuly – just three days after Orlando attended the Bezos wedding in what was pegged as his ‘single man debut’.
The father-of-two did little to contain his ‘joy’ at being at the ‘wedding of the century’, where he was spotted chatting to Kim Kardashian; strolling through the streets of Venice with Sydney Sweeney and wrapping his arm around a ‘mystery woman’ who was later revealed to be a stylist who had previously worked with Katy.
Reports later emerged suggesting that Orlando, 48, had been living the life of a bachelor for months and had been seen flirting ‘unapologetically’ during his trip to Miami in April and May, where he celebrated the launch of a cruise ship and attended the Miami Grand Prix alongside fellow singleton Tom Brady and ‘Mr Kylie Jenner’, Timothee Chalamet.
While Orlando let loose, Katy meanwhile continued through her demanding Lifetimes Tour, which will finish in December in Abu Dhabi. But, despite her gruelling schedule, fans were left delighted when photographs emerged of the ‘Firework’ singer, 40, enjoying dinner with former Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, 53.
Two days later, the hunky politician, who split with his wife Sophie in 2023, was also spotted singing along to Katy’s hits at a concert in Montreal.
And now our source confirms that Katy is indeed feeling ‘giddy’ over her new, unexpected ‘fling’.
They tell us, ‘Katy’s giddy about this, it’s all very new but it’s hard to imagine a more exciting guy to be getting wooed by than Justin, well at least in her eyes. She’s fascinated by politics; landing arguably the hottest politician in the world is a feather in her cap. It’s such a great boost for her ego after all the embarrassment with Orlando.’
Meanwhile, after watching on from the side-lines as Katy moves on with a hot and very eligible bachelor, who has been described as 'the hottest politician in the world', the insider adds that Orlando is feeling the ‘burn’.
‘The fact Katy’s getting all cosy with someone as handsome and eligible as Justin is a big kick in the teeth for Orlando,’ they say.
‘He can see for himself how she’s lapping up his company and clearly super excited to be moving on with a charming new suitor, and that’s not what Orlando expected at all. It’s hit him like a tonne of bricks. He can’t compete with this guy intellectually or in looks and he knows it. Katy seems smitten and Orlando’s feeling the burn.
‘He realises he could have been nicer with Katy. Now he’s seeing she’s doing just fine without him, if not better.’
Rising to fame in the early aughts in Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, Orlando was seriously hot stuff, going on to date Kate Bosworth, and enjoying a rumoured fling with Penelope Cruz before settling down with model and now ex-wife Miranda Kerr in 2007, with whom he shares son Flynn, 13.
And Orlando himself has previously admitted that he ‘loves women’. Talking of sex in a 2020 interview, he added, ‘If it wasn’t in my eye, it was probably in theirs [the women he met at parties]. I was a pretty boy, so wherever I went there was a bit of [frisson]. And I loved women.’
But now the source says the one-time man of the moment has landed with a bump back in Hollywood as he struggles to woo the ladies.
‘Orlando had this massive swagger about him up until a few weeks ago, but the rejections have really knocked him back,’ the source tells us.
‘He assumed women would be falling all over themselves to be with him at the Bezos wedding but there was no such luck, and it’s been an uphill struggle to land a date now he’s back in LA, too.
‘He hasn’t had a blockbuster since Lord of the Rings and that was over 20 years ago. In his mind, he’s an A-list superstar on a par with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Tom Cruise and the truth is, he can come across as fairly arrogant and that’s been a turn-off to a lot of the girls he’s going after.’
While Katy and Orlando have pledged to continue to lovingly co-parent their daughter, who they shared a family holiday to Capri with last month, it has been clear that Katy has struggled with their break up.
In contrast to Orlando’s dating bids, Katy looked visibly upset at moments during their yacht trip vacation and broke down in tears at her closing concert in Australia.
And now the source says that when it comes to dating, Orlando is feeling the repercussions of his ‘insensitive’ actions. The insider says, ‘There’s no denying the fact that other women feel Katy’s been extremely hard done-by and that Orlando’s treated her extremely poorly. So that hasn’t helped his chances either.
‘There’s just not a lot of sympathy towards him in the bank right now. All of a sudden he’s back to square one as this single guy in Hollywood and worrying that he may have to adjust his expectations a little, moving forward.’
They continue, ‘The trouble is that his mindset is still right where it was 20 years ago and he’s carrying a lot more baggage these days, which coupled with his enormous ego is not exactly a turn-on when he’s out on the prowl.’