Ariana Grande isn’t here for any body shaming comments, addressing all the recent criticism of her body and appearance throughout the Wicked press tour and beyond, during a recent interview.
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Getting teary-eyed with her response to French reporter SALLY, when she asked Grande how she copes with societal “beauty standards” and the “overwhelming” pressure women feel “to always look perfect.”
“My goodness,” Ari, expressed, immediately overcome with emotion. “I’m not gonna–” she paused, trying not to cry. As she was being comforted by her co-star Cynthia Erivo, to take her time Grande noted, “That’s a good question.”
“I’ve been doing this in front of the public… and been a specimen in a Petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I’ve 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. But that’s everything from — even just the simplest thing — your appearance, you know?,” the singer shared.
“It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise,” Grande continued. “It’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on, even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says ‘Oh my God you look skinnier, what happened?’ or ‘You look heavier, what happened?’” Emphasizing that being on the receiving end of those comments, regardless of what they are and who you are, is “horrible."
“I think in today’s society, there is 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,” she continued. “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.” Grande told SALLY, leaning in to add, “and I think it’s dangerous for all parties involved.”
Conversations about Ariana’s body (and truthfully Cynthia’s as well), particularly her thin physique, have been a constant throughout the Wicked press run. However despite the public’s unsolicited remarks about what she looks like, Grande feels “really lucky” to have a “support system” in place that reminds her that she’s “beautiful.”
As for how she deals with the uninvited commentary, while still knowing “the pressure of [what] that noise feels like,” Grande simply doesn’t “invite it in anymore.”
“It’s not welcome,” she sternly said. “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.”
“However, you all can protect yourselves from that noise," the Wicked starlet stressed, speaking to those who can relate. “Whether it’s at a family reunion or online, if you gotta 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 s***,” she concluded, putting a hard emphasis on that last word, and rightfully so.
Check out the interview clip below.