Ever since Wicked started breaking box office records when it hit the 2024 movie calendar, Part 1 of Elphaba and Glinda’s story has been spreading all over the globe with its messages of friendship, using your voice and not making assumptions based on people’s appearances. Ironically, the stars of the film Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have since had to deal with many judgmental comments. When a journalist asked the “positions” singer about how she deals with the pressure society puts on women to look perfect, Grande had a strong response. This wasn’t the first time either.
Ariana Grande Says The Comfort People Have Discussing Others’ Appearances Is ‘Dangerous’
The stars of Wicked sat down recently with Sally of Oui Oui Baguette, and Ariana Grande became emotional when asked about how fans have been commenting on her body. Grande pointed out that the criticism is nothing new to her, and she’s felt like “a specimen in a petri dish” since her career began when she was a teenager. She had a strong take on how comfortable some people feel in making judgments on things they really don’t know anything about, saying:
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, you know, from what you’re wearing to your body to your face to your everything, there’s a comfortability that people have commenting on that that I think is really dangerous. And I think it’s dangerous for all parties involved.
I love that she made a point of it being dangerous for both the person doing the criticizing and for the person receiving the criticism. Ariana Grande may have done it all in her career — from TV to movies to Broadway to music — but even she has struggled to block out the hate. She continued:
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 it’s not invited, so I don’t leave space for it anymore.
Ariana Grande hopes others can find a way to block out that noise too and remember that they are enough and they are beautiful. She concluded by saying:
And 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.
Cynthia Erivo voiced how proud she was of her co-star for speaking out like that (and honestly, the entire interview is wonderful and worth watching in full one or 15 times), but that was not the first time Ariana Grande has gotten candid with fans over this issue.
Ariana Grande Previously Warned That ‘You Never Know What Someone Is Going Through’
Back in April 2023, Ariana Grande went viral with a TikTok video addressing comparisons made between how she looked then and a less-healthy version of her body from past years. She again warned that even well-intentioned comments could be dangerous because “you never know what someone is going through." She told her followers:
Even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with. So, be gentle with each other and with yourselves.
Like in the interview with Sally, Ariana Grande asked people to work on not being so comfortable saying things about people’s bodies. There are ways to compliment someone without doing that, she said, or of just not saying anything if you don’t like something.
With Wicked’s strong themes of harnessing your powers and using your voice, Ariana Grande is leading by example to speak out against those who are clearly missing the movie’s message. Maybe we should all take another listen to the soundtrack’s most impactful songs as we continue the long wait for the Wicked Part 2 release.
