American Idol: Katy Perry reveals a cutout panel of her dress for easy breastfeeding access

Katy Perry whipped off a panel on the top of her dress to reveal a bra on Sunday’s episode of American Idol.

‘Mommy dearest is in the room right now,’ Lionel Richie, 71, said as his fellow judge entered the auditions. ‘You need to show and tell.’

‘That’s right!’ agreed Katy, 36. ‘And if I need to feed, I’m ready to go!’

The Grammy winner yanked down a small rectangle of her cow-print frock to reveal a cream-colored bra, with easy access for breastfeeding.

Daisy Dove, Katy’s daughter with actor Orlando Bloom, 44, is now six months old.

‘Cue the mom-tage,’ Katy said, as she was shown in flashback putting her high heels up on her AI desk and complaining about exhaustion.

‘Being a new mother can be really challenging,’ she added in voiceover. ‘But the guys have been so great and so supportive.’

Lionel, Luke Bryan, 44, and Ryan Seacrest, 46, were shown carrying a baby doll, bottles and diaper bag like characters in 2009’s The Hangover.

Katy opened a gift from Luke that included little cowboy boots and a play fishing rod, and told him, ‘Honestly, she has all she needs to come visit you in Nashville.’

Lionel marveled at the transition Katy had made across the AI seasons, saying, ‘She’s kind of stepped into that role now, of ‘I’m Mom,’ instead of ‘Pop star!’

Katy cooed into a baby carrier, laughed about forgetting her deodorant and kicked her legs up in the air as she boasted about her ‘moooo-ves.’

‘When I was pregnant, I was sharp as a tack,’ Katy told the moms at home. ‘And now, I’m like, ‘Meeeeh.’ I feel like I’m a little drunk. That’s where I’m at. I feel like I was gonna say…’

A contestant entered the room, and she finished, ‘I was gonna say, ‘hey!’ Welcome to American Idol!’

‘Hi,’ said Althea Grace, 21, a musician from Chicago, who like Katy was a mom and knew ‘baby brain’ was real.

Althea said she hadn’t even known she was pregnant with her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lennon until she was seven months along.

When Lennon was 11 months old, her liver failed and she went into a coma; Althea was told her baby had just days to live.

Six days later a liver donor appeared, which Althea called ‘an absolute miracle.’

The judges were affected by Althea’s story and her original song Saturday Morning, a song she’d written while Lennon was in the hospital.

It was about all the things you do with loved ones that you miss when they’re gone—and it won her a ticket to Hollywood.

But Althea was hardly the only singer with an affecting tale on Sunday night.

College student DeShawn Goncalves, 19, from Cleveland, had a tough upbringing with teen parents and a dad who went to prison at a young age.

The man had urged his son to do better in life, and DeShawn ended up getting straight-As and a full ride to Jackson State University, in Jackson, Mississippi. He deeply moved the judges with his cover of George Benson’s Everything Must Change.

‘That was powerful,’ a teary-eyed Lionel told DeShawn. ‘I needed you today… I don’t know where it came from, but I know God saw fit to put you in front of us.’

High schooler Brianna Callichio, 15, from Spencerport, NY, told the panel about her diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, which came with a life expectancy of 36.

The first time she tried to audition for AI this year, she collapsed and ended up in the ER getting surgery, but fortunately was able to reschedule.

Her sister Sentina had dared her to go on the show, and the judges liked her cover of Alessia Cara’s Scars To Your Beautiful, saying she gave people hope.

Tryzdin Grubbs, 15, a student from Columbus, Ohio, had been bullied for singing in front of his classmates at school, but his pure tone on James Arthur’s Nobody wowed the panel.

It was his second song after a shaky take on Lewis Capaldi’s Before You Go, and it earned him a golden ticket and a standing ovation.

Vahhley, 23, a mother from Brooklyn, had been living in a homeless shelter with her toddler son MJ for eight months and hoped that AI would give her better opportunities.

‘I feel like this can change all of our lives,’ she said, before launching into a ticket-winning rendition of Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time.

‘I think your singing is real good,’ Luke told Vahhley. ‘But your fight is incredible.’

Wyatt Pike, 19, a college student from Park City, Utah, arrived with a pretty original called Best for You, which he’d written about his sister Hazel’s mental-health issues.

Lionel compared him to James Taylor and the judges granted Wyatt a ticket, too.

Madison Watkins, 25, a hair model from Fayetteville, Arkansas, wrote and sang Your Little Girl, a song inspired by her father’s support over the years.

‘You check every box in the book, singing-wise,’ Luke told Madison, sending her through.

Several former AI contestants made surprise visits to the auditions, with mixed results.

Zachary D’Onofrio, 19, a college student from Wesley Chapel, Florida, returned to the AI trials after failing to make the main show in 2018.

His version of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers was so-so, and he brought in his girlfriend for help.

She turned out to be 2018 AI finalist Catie Turner, 21, who had been dating Zach a year.

Their adorable duet on Harry Styles Falling won the judges over, and they gave Zach a ticket.

By contrast Las Vegas nurse Kiko Martin, 25, got rejected despite a duet with his brother Francisco Martin, 20, a 2020 AI finalist who’d just released a new single.

They dueted on—what else?— 10 Years, a tune by 2019 AI runner-up Alejandro Aranda.

Two Katy Perry superfans even showed up to the auditions, with surprising success.

Ava August, 15, a high school student from Laguna Niguel, California, came in gushing about seeing Katy in concert at age nine.

She said a documentary about Katy had inspired her first song, and played a tune about falling in love that Lionel called ‘an old soul sound’ made fresh.

Liv Grace Blue, 17, a high school student from Studio City, California, then played a sexy cover of Katy’s I Kissed A Girl, accompanying herself on guitar.

‘I see a little of myself in you,’ Katy told Liv. ‘Five to 10 years and maybe I’ll be watching you.’

Two others made it through, though they were seen only in quick snippets.

Alana, 22, a food delivery driver from Lakewood Ranch, Florida, sang Dua Lipa’s Break My Heart to get her ticket to Hollywood.

Cameron Allen, 20, a college student from Monroe, Oklahoma, won his with a soulful rendition of Amos Lee’s Seen it All Before.

In a lovely interlude, the three judges sang James Taylor’s You’ve Got a Friend together.

More singers than ever seemed to get a ‘no’ on the episode, to their dismay.

Jackson Snelling, 18, a singer-songwriter from Austin, Indiana, sang an original called Please Listen.

Jackson had been diagnosed with autism as a child, but was more high-functioning than his elder brother Dawson, 20, who operated ‘at a nine-year-old level.’

Jackson had lost his father at age seven, as the man suffered a heart attack while sleeping next to him to keep him safe from epileptic seizures.

To process the trauma, Jackson began songwriting, and wrote the tune about his brother’s inability to register their father’s death.

He wasn’t seasoned enough to make it through, but the judges told him to come back someday.

Also bidding adieu to the Idol stage was former boy bander Danny Falco, 28, who sang in a group called Kik-It, though his band mate Colin Jamieson, 22, did make it through.

Luke joined Los Angeles barista Steven Paul Cortez, 28, on a cover of Brooks and Dunn’s Play Something Country, but Steven still got denied.

Jake Clark, 20, a college student from Thousand Oaks, California, got three ‘no’s’ for his jazzy version of LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It. 

Helen Blondel, 28, a singer from Kissimmee, Florida, underwhelmed with her cover of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody, sung with a literal sock puppet.

And fan dancer Luana, 28, from Saarburg, Germany, was rejected for her piercing version of Madonna’s Frozen.

American Idol returns next week on ABC.