She was unconditionally moved by this meeting.
Katy Perry got emotional during Sunday’s “American Idol” premiere as a contestant met her biological family for the first time following her live audition.
Arizona native McKenna Breinholt stepped into the audition room and revealed to Perry and her fellow “Idol” judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, that she was adopted.
According to Breinholt, 25, her adoptive family struggled to conceive a child before ultimately going through the adoptive process.
“I have the best family in the world they’ve always supported me,” Breinholt said, adding that when she had turned 21, her parents revealed that she had inherited her musical talent from her biological mother, Amy Ross Lopez, who was in a band called Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl before she sadly passed away.
The “Idol” hopeful then revealed that she had contacted her biological family over Face Time last summer and was planning to meet them in the near future.
However, little did Breinholt know that both her adoptive and biological families were secretly in attendance for her audition.
After wowing Perry, Richie, 74, and Bryan,47, with a rendition of the 2019 song “There Was Jesus, “Breinholt was prompted by Perry to invite her family inside for the judge’s final decision.
Upon opening the door, the aspiring singer was shocked to see not only her adoptive family but her biological aunts, uncles as well.
“What happened here,” Bryan can be heard mumbling as both Perry and Richie look on in shock.
“They’re here,” Brienholt says shocked as Perry seems to fight the urge to smile. “My birth family is here!”
“Your birth family!” shrieked Perry and Richie in unison.
Perry, visibly moved by the touching moment, closed her eyes but failed to stifle her tears.
“Is she crying,” Brienholt questions to which Perry responds: “No, I’m not crying. You’re crying.”
After assembling behind Breinholt, Perry asks for “Lopezes on the right” and the “Breinholts on the left.”
“Do you know any of your mom’s songs?” Perry asked. “You could play it for them.”
“I do,” Brienhold said eliciting a sound of shock from her biological grandmother.
“You do,” she quipped as Perry and Richie urged the singer to use the piano in the room.
“Tissue on ‘Idol’ set,” Bryan joked.
Brienhold’s rendition of her mother’s tune entitled “Tumbleweed” brought the entire room to tears with her grandmother proclaiming “It’s like a ghost” when asked if the song sounded the same.
“So beautiful. Look, music is connection. Music is emotion. Music is heart. You’re not the only person out there that’s searching for their birth family,” an emotional Perry said. “There’s hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands that are watching this right now that are going, ‘Oh! Me too, me too!’ You know?”
“And it’s wonderful to have them all together. And it’s so wonderful for your mom and dad to see this and to be so open and loving and supportive about this,” she added. “I’m sure there was a big loss for your birth family. And for you to sing like that, I think it’s healing.”
To no one’s great surprise, the singer was unanimously voted into the show’s next round.
The heartfelt start to the season comes right on the heels of Perry announcing her departure from the series.
“Well, you know, this fall, this September, Iâm going to be doing this huge music festival in Brazil called Rock in Rio. Itâs really exciting,â she shared while appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
âItâs a big deal for people all over the world, especially my Brazilian fans,â Perry added.âSo I think this will probably be my last season for Idol.”