On Friday night, Ariana Grande stepped into the spotlight at Montreal’s Bell Centre, wearing a soft, flowing white dress that gave her performance an almost otherworldly quality. She held the microphone tightly and appeared to move somewhat stiffly across the stage, but vocally, she sounded every bit as powerful as fans have come to expect.
Moving through a setlist that included fan favourites such as Into You and Hate That I Made You Love Me, Grande showed off the pristine four-octave range that first marked her out as a standout talent when she was still a teenager performing on Broadway.
That early stage success helped pave the way for a much bigger breakthrough on Victorious, the hit Nickelodeon sitcom that introduced her to a vast young audience.
As the former child star bowed to the crowd in Canada — the latest stop on her demanding Eternal Sunshine Tour — there was little to suggest that, within just 48 hours, she would make one of the most consequential decisions of her career and become the subject of global headlines.
Earlier that same day, the music video for her new single Petal had been unveiled. Grande may have expected discussion to centre on its provocative final sequence, which shows her confronting a group of arrogant, dismissive male music executives with a chainsaw before ending up covered in blood in a scene styled like a horror movie.
But while the Petal video quickly drew millions of views, much of the attention shifted away from its violent satire and towards Grande’s noticeably slender appearance.
Ariana Grande’s team said the singer would take “a step back” from public life amid “endless, ongoing scrutiny” over her appearance
Fans expressed concern after Ariana’s appearance in the music video for her new single Petal
Ms Grande in 2018. The singer was due to appear opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey in a production of Sunday In The Park With George at London’s Barbican but has pulled out
‘At this point, I’m judging her team, friends and family,’ said one viewer, whose comment was ‘liked’ by 62,000 people. Another added: ‘She is surrounded by enablers.’
On Instagram, where Grande boasts 363 million followers, she uploaded a series of recent photos. Some were quickly presented with a ‘community note’ from other users attached to the post warning about eating disorders and urging anyone struggling with one to ‘seek help’.
The British actress and Left-wing activist Jameela Jamil – who has survived an eating disorder herself – also commented online, claiming that Grande was ‘possibly dying in front of us’ and wondered why her team had chosen to release such a ‘damaging image for young fans’. Jamil later deleted her crass remark, but insisted: ‘My point stands. This is deeply irresponsible.’
Finally, as the row approached a crescendo on Sunday night, Ariana’s team sensationally announced that she would be pulling out of a London stage production that was tipped to be one of the biggest Theatreland has ever seen.
Her spokesman told People magazine that Grande would ‘be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour’, adding: ‘She looks forward to . . . taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.’
So what exactly is going on – and should her army of fans be worried? Earlier this year it was revealed that the 33-year-old would be starring opposite Jonathan Bailey in a Barbican production of Sunday In The Park with George: Stephen Sondheim’s legendary 1984 musical about the 19th-century French painter Georges Seurat and his mistress Dot.
Her casting had been a major coup for producers – and a triumph for the London venue.
Grande and Bailey were, of course, two stars of the Wicked films, by far the most successful cinematic adaptations of Broadway musicals ever, grossing more than $750million at the box office and garnering ten Oscar nominations (including one for Grande as Best Supporting Actress).
Yet on Sunday, Empire Street Productions, the company producing Sunday at the Park with George, was told that Grande was quitting the production less than an hour before her team released their own statement. This meant that the Barbican had to scramble to get ahead of the story.
Last night, one source connected to the production told the Daily Mail that Grande’s decision was ‘mind-bending’, adding: ‘It all unfolded rapidly after the release of her music video sparked more backlash about her appearance.
The actress met actor Ethan Slater while filming Wicked, with whom she went on to have a three-year relationship before splitting this summer
Ariana is due to perform the London leg of her tour in just two weeks, with a gruelling ten-date run at London’s O2 Arena
‘There have been ongoing discussions [about the production] because there was a lot of [online discussion] around Ariana, but she was excited to do this show and rehearsals don’t start until 2027.
‘The Barbican was informed at 8pm on Sunday. It was all very sudden and has left them in a terrible mess. It is their most expensive theatrical project ever, and all involved are absolutely gutted. They feel for Ariana . . . There were promotion plans in place, with magazine covers lined up. But in any theatre production, you have to consider something like this could happen.’
Her co-star Bailey, 38, is believed to remain ‘committed to the show’ in the title role. ‘He was always the key player in this: Ariana wanted the role of Dot alongside him,’ added our source. ‘Jonathan and Ariana were excited to do it together. They have become incredibly close. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jonathan had found out before the Barbican did.’
Publicly, the show’s producers said: ‘We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and [Ariana] makes it with our complete understanding and support. We wish her nothing but the best.’ They added that the production will open as planned next summer, with tickets going on sale next month.
As the Daily Mail went to press last night, Grande was due to perform at Chicago’s United Centre for the first of three concerts there, before moving to London’s O2 Arena for her tour’s final ten shows from August 15 to September 1.
Despite rumours swirling online yesterday that she may yet cancel those British dates, sources close to the singer have insisted to the Daily Mail that there are no plans to do so – although they are preparing for ‘intense scrutiny on the tour’. (Industry insiders noted that if Ariana were to cancel her remaining dates, she would lose significant revenue and face high costs.)
Yesterday, Grande put a brave face on events, writing online: ‘See you tonight, Chicago.’
But if she’s hoping for a rest after the tour, she may not be able to enjoy it for long. Grande is due to promote her new film, Focker-In-Law, in which she stars alongside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in the latest instalment of the Meet The Fockers series, which is due for release on November 25. She’ll be expected to appear on the red carpet repeatedly for weeks.
One year after the Manchester Arena bombing, her former boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died from an accidental drug overdose
Of course, speculation around Grande’s appearance – some concerned, some prurient and some simply cruel – has dogged her for a long time. While Ariana herself has always publicly insisted that she is perfectly healthy, and has never directly addressed concerns about her dramatic weight loss, that hasn’t stopped worried fans from pointing out how gaunt she has appeared in recent years.
In April 2023, she addressed the speculation publicly with a post on TikTok, saying: ‘I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies,’ adding it was hard ‘to be paid this close attention to [sic]’.
She added that when people were comparing how she then looked to previous images, those earlier pictures were in fact ‘the unhealthiest version of my body . . . I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly . . . [I was] at the lowest points of my life when I looked the way you consider “my healthy”, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.’
The following year, in her song Yes, And?, Grande again addressed the scrutiny over her appearance, singing: ‘Don’t comment on my body, do not reply. Your business is yours and mine is mine. Why do you care so much . . . Why?’
The same year, during her Wicked press tour, she spoke about the subject in detail, saying: ‘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.’
Certainly, she is far from the first former child star to have experienced a troubled adulthood. But by anyone’s standards, Grande has suffered a series of truly tragic events in her personal and private life over the past decade or so.
First, of course, there was the horrific suicide bombing of her Manchester Arena concert by an Islamist in 2017. Salman Abedi, of Libyan descent, murdered 22 people, many of them children, and injured more than 1,000 others.
Inevitably, the atrocity deeply affected Grande, who said she was ‘broken’ and couldn’t find the words to describe how devastated she felt at the time.
A year after the attack, she said: ‘People are permanently affected by this stuff. It changes everything.’ She added that she was coping with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Many lesser artists would have retired then and there – and she hardly needs the money, being worth around £200million – but Grande bravely organised the benefit concert One Love Manchester to support victims and their families.
Then, in 2018 – just a year after the Manchester attack – her rapper boyfriend Mac Miller, another child star who had burst on to the music scene as a 15-year-old, died from an accidental drug overdose. He was just 26. Grande had first met him when she was 19, and the pair were together for almost two years, breaking up some four months before he died.
‘I can’t believe you’re not here any more,’ she wrote online at the time. ‘I don’t know what to do. You were my dearest friend.’ In an interview the following year, she said her grief over his death was ‘pretty all-consuming’.
Shortly afterwards, she embarked on a brief, whirlwind relationship with actor and comedian Pete Davidson – a former boyfriend of Kim Kardashian – with the couple getting matching tattoos. Davidson presented her with a $93,000 engagement ring, and the couple even bought a pet pig together, named Piggie Smalls – before they broke off the engagement after spending just five months together.
Grande went on to find brief happiness with Dalton Gomez, an estate agent for luxury properties, whom she married in 2021. However, their divorce was finalised three years later.
She also had a near-three-year relationship with actor Ethan Slater while filming Wicked, before they split up this summer. Slater is thought to have left his ex-wife and newborn baby after meeting the star.
But if her love life has been turbulent, her career has only gone from strength to strength. Grande’s debut album, 2013’s Yours Truly, was an instant hit, and she went on to achieve global chart success with Dangerous Woman and Thank U, Next.
She pushed herself even further by moving back into acting, relaunching that side of her career with Wicked in 2024 – a role that took an emotional and physical toll. Intensive rehearsal schedules, singing live and performing stunts alongside British co-star Cynthia Erivo were all-consuming.
In January this year, Grande admitted a career break ‘would be healthy’, telling Vogue Japan: ‘These past few years have been pretty non-stop. And by few, I mean 15.’ She added that she was searching for more ‘balance’ in the years to come.
All her fans desperately hope she finds it. And as she readies herself to take to the London stage next week, many will be praying she gets the rest she clearly needs.
