Ariana Grande experienced an emotional moment during the press tour of Wicked as she was asked about the ‘concerned’ comments over her drastic weight loss.
The 31-year-old popstar was asked about how she copes with society’s beauty standards and the overbearing pressure women feel to always look like their ‘perfect’ selves, by French reporter Sally in an interview.
When French reporter Sally asked Grande during a recent interview how she copes with society’s “beauty standards” and the “overwhelming” pressure women feel “to always look perfect,” the pop star, 31, was immediately overcome with emotion.
“My goodness. I’m not gonna–” she blurted out, holding back her tears, “Good question.”
The Side to Side hitmaker was then comforted by her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo, who was present in the interview.
“I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” Grande detailed.
“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 Disney alum shared that it’s “hard to protect yourself from that noise” when “you’re young and you’re hearing all kinds of things.”
“I think that it’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on,” she said, “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 somberly added that receiving those comments, regardless of who you are, is “horrible.”
She went on to say, “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.”
However, she added, despite these stinging comments the actress feels “really lucky” to have a “support system” that reminds her that she’s “beautiful.”