Celebrities tend to balk at the idea that they might be seen as role models. Female pop stars who grew up with their fans, think Miley Cyrus, are particularly offended by the concept that the way they live might meaningfully influence someone else. But not Ariana Grande.
The 33-year-old singer and actress, who made a name for herself as a teenager on the Nickelodeon sitcom “Victorious,” said in an interview several years ago that she sees herself as an “honest” role model.
“If I’m going to be a role model, the last thing I should be is perfect because that’s not realistic,” she told the BBC in 2018. “As long as I’m honest and genuine and I share with my fans my truest self, that’s the best that I can do because that’s allowing them to do the same thing.”
But it’s hard to be honest with your fans when you’re lying to yourself.
Grande has spent the past few years pursuing a disturbing level of weight loss. The “Into You” singer, who also starred as Glinda in “Wicked,” looks as if she might actually be able to float away in a bubble without any movie magic to assist her. Lately, fans have been comparing her to Karen Carpenter, the lead singer of the Carpenters who died at age 32 after her eating disorder caused her heart to fail.
Yet somehow, Grande has spent the last few years criticizing fans for commenting on her body, suggesting that such concern amounts to something prurient, impudent, and decidedly anti-feminist.
In a 2023 TikTok video she made to explain “what it means to be a person with a body,” she sweetly told fans to shove it.
“I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said. “If you think you’re saying something good and well-intentioned … we just shouldn’t.”
She claimed that her former, larger-but-still-super-skinny body was more unhealthy than the current model. Before, she was on antidepressants, drinking, and eating poorly. Yet, even while suggesting that her physical health has improved, she seemed to admit that there was something wrong; she just didn’t think it was anyone’s business.
“You never know what someone is going through. So 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 and — you never know.”
What does “working on it” mean for her, when “it” looks a lot like an extreme, possibly life-threatening case of anorexia?
She clearly wasn’t working on it, and she doubled down the next year while on the Wicked press tour.
“I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been, you know, a specimen in a petri dish, really, since I was 16 or 17,” Grande said. “So, I have 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.”
Couched in the language of self-care and compassion and feminism, her pleas for privacy made it into the verbiage of various headlines. “Ariana Grande gives ‘loving reminder’ about body-shaming,” cooed NBC. Fox News put her in a more active stance, declaring, “Ariana Grande fights back against body-shamers as critics comment on her weight during ‘Wicked’ press tour.”
But now, finally, the body-shamers may have won. Thank God.
On Friday, Grande released the music video for her new song “Petals.” In it, she attends a casting call, each time reinventing herself to make herself more appealing to the old, grizzled men behind the desk.
The first time, one of the men writes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it note: “couldn’t hurt to lose a few lbs.” The next time, she’s criticized for wearing too much makeup, and the third time, when she comes back with a boob job, the man scoffs that she’s had “too much work done.”
Then she lops off their heads with a chainsaw. Really.
Like Taylor Swift, she has the commentariat in mind with her video — and her lyrics. “But I don’t need someone to save me / ‘Cause this music and I will never die,” she trills. “This is not a cry for help / A couple million for my thoughts, I’ve got plenty / But I am not the victim / B*tch, I’m practically drowning in my blessings.”
Sawing off the heads of concerned fans seems like the wrong message to send, but her music video is saying exactly what she’s been proclaiming to fans for years: Talking about my dangerously skinny body is the same as telling me I’m too ugly or wear too much makeup or am too sexy or am not sexy enough. Gosh, we women just can’t win!
But the backlash this time was serious. “It’s not about wanting the old Ariana back. It’s about wanting her to be healthy,” reads a top comment on the video. “At this point, im judging her team, friends, and family. This is insane,” said another.
Then, on Sunday, Grande’s reps announced she would be stepping out of the spotlight.
“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” her representative said. (This exit isn’t immediate: The tour for her new album ends September 1.)
“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily,” continued her rep in a pointed statement, “and then taking a much-deserved break from public facing work and appearances which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”
Hopefully Grande can finally get the help she needs, unless this is an elaborate marketing stunt. What’s really remarkable is that she’s still pointing a finger at us, the onlookers. She’s healthy, her rep insists, and she deserves a break from your endless scrutiny, you sick losers. By the way, where’s my chainsaw?
What’s most important is that Grande eat a cheeseburger, preferably with some tallow fries, but she also owes honesty to her fans. She is skeletal, visibly unhealthy by any objective measure, and insisting otherwise could cause vulnerable viewers to spiral in the same way. Criticizing her weight isn’t a matter of taste the way one might comment on her ever-present high ponytail.
Ariana Grande is wasting away before our eyes, and she’s too afraid to admit it. We shouldn’t be.
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This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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