Ariana Grande is once again imploring her fans (and critics) to stop commenting on her body—or anyone’s body, for that matter. In the months leading up to the Wicked: Part One premiere, and in the many press appearances that have since followed, such comments have reached another zenith. In a new interview with Grande and her co-star Cynthia Erivo, French journalist and content creator Salima Jeanne Poumbga (also known as “Crazy Sally” or simply “Sally”) asked Grande if she’d describe how she copes under that spotlight.
“How do you cope with beauty standards, to critics, to looks?” Sally asked. “Because this is something that is so overwhelming for women: to always look perfect. How do you deal with that?”
Grande became visibly emotional at the question, and paused to collect herself before she provided a lengthy response. That response is a good one, so it’s worth transcribing here in full.
“I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been, you know, a specimen in a Petri dish, really, since I was 16 or 17,” Grande began, “so I have heard it all. I’ve heard every version of it—of what’s wrong with me—and then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons...It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise. And I think it’s something that’s uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on. Even if you go to a Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, ‘Oh my God, you look skinnier! What happened?’ or ‘You look heavier! What happened?’ It’s like, that is something that is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening.”
She continued, “I think, in today’s society, there’s a comfortability that we shouldn’t have. At all. Commenting on others’ looks, appearance, what they think is going on behind the scenes, or health, or how they present themselves...There’s a comfortability that people have with commenting on [people’s bodies] that I think is really dangerous. And I think it’s dangerous for all parties involved.
“I think I’m really lucky to have the support system that I have. And to just know and trust that I’m beautiful...But I do know what the pressure of that noise feels like. It’s been a resident in my life since I was 17, and I just don’t invite it in anymore. It’s not welcome. I have work to do, I have a life to live, I have friends to love on, I have so much love, and [the noise is] not invited. So I don’t leave space for it anymore.”
She concluded, “However you all can protect yourselves from that noise, whether it’s at a family reunion or online, if you’ve got to block people, I don’t care—if you have to delete the app entirely—you keep yourself safe. Because no one has the right to say shit.”
At that final remark, she laughed and added, “Can you tell I needed that today?”
These comments were certainly not without context or precedent. Grande, who launched her career in 2008 and became a widely recognized child actress in the 2010-2013 Nickelodeon television series Victorious, has on multiple occasions discussed her decades of enduring body-shaming comments.
In April 2023, she posted a video on TikTok telling viewers, “I don’t do this often. I don’t like it; I’m not good at it...But I just wanted to address your concerns about my body and talk a little bit about what it means to a person with a body and to be seen and to be paid this close attention to. I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what...just to aim toward being safer and keeping each other safer.”
She continued, “I know, for me, the body you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly, and at the lowest points of my life when I looked the way you consider my ‘healthy.’ But that, in fact, wasn’t my healthy. And I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here will be—something good might come from it, I don’t know.”
