#RIP: Nun Involved in Legal Real Estate Battle Against Katy Perry, Dies In Court

Katy Perry has been involved in a legal battle to buy a former Catholic convent in Los Angeles and one of the nuns involved in the case died in a court hearing related to the case.

CBS News reported that Friday, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, collapsed during in court. Archbishop José H. Gomez wrote in a statement on her passing obtained by People,

“Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, IHM passed away suddenly today at the age of 89. Sister Catherine Rose served the Church with dedication and love for many years and today we remember her life with gratitude. We extend our prayers today to the Immaculate Heart of Mary community and to all her friends and loved ones.“

Just hours before her death, Holzman along with Sister Rita Callanan spoke out against Perry to Fox 7, marking the first time the nuns had spoken to the press since 2016, when a L.A. judged ruled against them, clearing the way for Perry to purchase the property. But designer and entrepreneur Dana Hollister (owner of Echo Park’s Brite Spot Diner), interfered with the sale of the property to Perry, according to the jury’s decision.

This legal fight over the sale has cost Perry more than $2.6 million in lawyers’ fees but jury ordered Hollister to reimburse more than $1.5 million of that.

To make the sale go through, Perry was going to provide the church with a new retreat for priests and but the sale on the property fell through.

The nuns had been given the property in 1972, and had tried to sell it to Hollister as the Archdiocese was working out the terms of a sale to Perry, who plans to share the home with her mother and grandmother. If it seems odd to want to buy a convent, it wasn’t originally one. The sprawling compound was by architect Bernard Maybeck as the private residence of auto dealer and broadcasting mogul Earle C. Anthony in 1927 in the now trendy Los Feliz neighborhood.

Sister Holzman just before she died told Fox 7,

“Katy Perry, please stop. It’s not doing anyone any good [and it’s] hurting a lot of people.”

In an interview with the L.A. Times in 2015, Callanan said that the big reason the nuns were against the sale because they didn’t approve of her image.

“Well, I found Katy Perry, and I found her videos and if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it.“

Perry is one of the most successful female artists ever with a net worth of nearly $300 million at the age of 33. She was reportedly paid $25 million for appearing as a judge with Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan on the reboot of American Idol which premieres tonight.

(Photo, Pacific Coast News; via People)