Ariana Grande held back tears as she answered a question about the comments people have been making about her body during the Wicked promotional run.
In an interview posted Thursday, Grande told YouTube journalist Sally that hearing comments about her body can be “dangerous” and “uncomfortable” — and that “no one has the right to say shit” about it.
“I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” Grande said. “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?”
“It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise, and I think that it’s uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on,” she added. “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?’”
Grande said that the comments can be “uncomfortable and horrible,” and she slammed the ease in which people feel commenting on other people’s looks and “what they think is going on behind the scenes.”
“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 said. “And I think it’s dangerous for all parties involved.”
Grande said she’s lucky to have a strong support system and that she knows she’s beautiful but understands what the “pressure of that noise feels like.”
“However, you all can protect yourselves from that noise — 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 shit,” Grande said.
The new interview with Grande comes about a year and a half after she shared a similar sentiment in a TikTok addressing concerns from fans about her figure.
“The body that 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,” she said at the time. “[I was] at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
She added, “I know I shouldn’t have to explain that. But I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here, good might come from it.”
