She may be one of the most celebrated singers of her generation, but Ariana Grande is struggling and her fans are starting to notice.
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00:00She may be one of the most celebrated singers of her generation,
00:03but Ariana Grande is struggling and her fans are starting to notice.
00:07Ariana Grande has been refreshingly honest about her mental health through her many
00:11years in the spotlight. During the Popstar's 2018 BBC Music Special,
00:16she opened up about her struggles with anxiety. She said,
00:19"'I almost feel guilty that I have anxiety because it's just in your head,
00:23and that's just so crazy how powerful it is.'"
00:26The No Tears Left to Cry hitmaker detailed how she would have prolonged periods,
00:30where she managed to keep her anxiety under control. Eventually, though,
00:33a trigger would cause it to return, and she would have to take a couple of days to deal with it.
00:37Likewise, during her 2024 appearance on the Podcrushed podcast,
00:41she shared that she dealt with obsessive compulsive disorder in her younger years.
00:45Her daily routine even consisted of rituals to ensure she completed day-to-day tasks.
00:51"...had to be in the shower for a certain amount of times,
00:54singing through Defying Gravity three times in the shower. That's how I knew I had a long
00:58enough shower."
00:58Grande also had a tendency to use excessive amounts of hand sanitizer that would cause
01:03her skin to develop cracks. But Grande has also been open about getting the help she needs
01:08to deal with these issues. In November 2018, she took to Twitter to share,
01:12"'In all honesty, therapy has saved my life so many times. If you're afraid to ask for help,
01:17don't be. You don't have to be in constant pain, and you can process trauma.'"
01:22In addition to Grande's mental health, she has also undergone some physical
01:25transformations that have caught the public's attention over the years.
01:29Namely, fans have expressed concern about Grande's weight on several occasions. However,
01:33the public scrutiny went to a whole new level after Grande's appearance on the Wicked Press
01:38tour in 2024. Many ex-users believed that she had lost far too much weight and looked
01:44unwell as a result. Some commenters even speculated that the Grammy winner had developed
01:49an eating disorder or some other illness. It's worth noting that Grande already addressed
01:53growing concern over her weight in an April 2023 TikTok.
01:58"'There are many different kinds of beautiful. There are many different ways to look healthy
02:02and beautiful.'"
02:03Grande further clarified that the weight at which fans perceived her to be at her healthiest was,
02:08in fact, the one she had when she was feeling the least healthy.
02:11"'I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly,
02:18and at the lowest point of my life.'"
02:20She also urged her fans not to draw conclusions about people based solely on their appearance
02:25because they're likely going through more than outsiders realize. As always, the pop star
02:29concluded her post on a note of kindness by reminding fans that they were all beautiful.
02:34Likewise, when she appeared on the podcast Last Culture Restarts in November 2024,
02:38the Nickelodeon alum quipped that social media users were constantly diagnosing her
02:43with health issues she didn't have.
02:45"'They tell me I have a lot of things. And, you know, you're on the sensitive. No,
02:49I'm kidding. I'm joking. You're actually invasive and scary.'"
02:53When Grande and Ethan Slater met on the set of Wicked in 2022,
02:56they were both notably married to other people. While the pop star had been married to Dalton
03:01Gomez since 2021, Slater was married, too, and shared a child with his high school sweetheart,
03:06Lily Jay. Then, in July 2023, People reported that the problem songstress and her hubby
03:12had parted ways earlier in the year. However, that bombshell didn't get its moment in the sun
03:17because, just a few days later, an insider informed People that Slater and Grande had started dating.
03:23The confidante insisted that there was no overlap between any of their relationships
03:27because Slater was already separated from Jay, and Grande and Gomez ended things in January.
03:32However, that wasn't enough to convince People that Grande wasn't a homewrecker who had broken
03:36up a happy marriage. Unfortunately, Grande's defense of Slater in her 2024 song Yes And
03:42totally backfired, adding even more fuel to the fire since social media commentators reckoned
03:47she was trying to unfairly paint herself as the victim. While the singer remains tight-lipped
03:52as the backlash poured in, she later admitted to Vanity Fair that the negativity had indeed
03:57affected her. She professed,
03:58Honestly, it's taken me a lot of hard work to be able to last this long and to heal certain
04:03parts of my relationship, to fame, and to what I do because of these tabloids that have been
04:08trying to destroy me since I was 19 years old." Grande's relationship with Slater wasn't her only
04:13source of scrutiny the past few years. In 2024, a TikTok showcasing how Grande had changed her voice
04:19during her Podcrushed appearance went viral.
04:22I was like, what has happened? Yeah, I don't know. But yeah, I've been writing a lot."
04:29Many commentators pointed out that her vocal changes made it sound like she was still playing
04:33Glinda from Wicked. The pop star left a comment under the video explaining that she may still
04:38have remnants of Glinda after playing her for two years. She wrote,
04:41I intentionally changed my vocal placement, often depending on how much singing I'm doing.
04:46The Sam & Cat alum defended herself once again against the unwarranted criticism during her
04:512024 interview with Vanity Fair. She argued,
04:54There is a part of the world that isn't familiar with what it takes to transform your voice,
04:58whether it's singing or taking on a different dialect for a role or doing a character voice
05:02for something. Unfortunately, some people weren't impressed by Grande's vocal abilities in Wicked,
05:07either. After a clip of her singing popular emerged online, many ex-users started wishing
05:12that the part had gone to Amanda Seyfried instead. However, the real meaning behind
05:17yes and makes it abundantly clear that she pays the haters no mind.
05:21As thousands of Ariana Grande fans were heading home after her concert in Manchester, England,
05:26on May 22, 2017, a suicide bomber set off explosives that killed 22 people and injured
05:32at least 800 others. About two months later, Grande and several other celebs took to the stage
05:37at the One Love Manchester charity concert to raise funds to help the victims' families.
05:42During a 2019 chat with Vogue, Grande gushed that she was glad they were able to help the
05:47victims financially. However, Grande couldn't understand why people were clapping her on the
05:51back because she believed they, quote, "...did nothing," and their efforts didn't bring anyone
05:56back. Grande teared up as she addressed the bombings, saying,
05:59"'It's not my trauma. It's those families. It's their losses. And so it's hard to just
06:03let it all out without thinking about them reading this and reopening the memory for them.'"
06:08The singer also divulged that she sought professional help to deal with the PTSD
06:12from the incident. In the following years, the Grammy winner continued to share heartfelt
06:16social media posts on the attack's anniversary in remembrance of the victims. Shortly after
06:21the incident, tons of people got bee tattoos to show that their hearts were with them.
06:25In May 2018, Grande revealed on X that she too had a bee inked behind her ear in solidarity.