The Second Coming of Ariana Grande (original) (raw)

“I’m sorry,” Ariana Grande says at the first sign of tears collecting in her eyes. She’s apologizing for crying again, but here we are on a late January afternoon, and she is crying again.

“I’m so sorry,” Grande reiterates, aware of how many tears have already been shed and later memed in the making and promotion of Wicked, the $700 million blockbuster adaptation of the Broadway show, itself an adaptation of a novel of the same name.

But the truth is, Grande has been damn near sobbing for weeks now, ever since the Jan. 23 announcement that the 31-year-old pop star has earned an Oscar nomination for her first-ever starring role, one of 10 nods for the prequel to The Wizard of Oz. She can’t help but see it as both invitation and validation from a community that she had watched only from afar until very recently.

“It’s a beautiful thing to feel like the work that I’m doing or have done is kind of, I suppose, I don’t know, enough or louder or whatever it is,” she says, the lower half of her face covered by a mask, which, of course, is Glinda pink, as she fights off a gnarly head cold she picked up on the unrelenting awards circuit. “This feeling that people are seeing me — like, actually me — it’s so silly because I’ve been seen for so long, but it feels like it’s maybe for the first time and it’s just different.”

On its face, it’s a confusing statement for a woman who has ostensibly performed as herself for more than a decade. That Ariana Grande has earned 18 Grammy nominations, nine Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits and 376 million Instagram followers. But the instantly recognizable ponytail that sits high atop her head or the oversized sweatshirts and sky-high boots that have decorated her pint-sized body, that’s not really her — or, she says, it’s no more her than Glinda is her.

Says Grande, “At a certain point, you get tired of that [pop star] character, because it is a character,” says Grande. Schiaparelli dress, shoes; Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

“At a certain point, you get tired of that [pop star] character, because it is a character,” she says amid a rotation of tea and cough drops at the Chateau Marmont. “There are pieces of you and your story that are woven throughout your songwriting, but then, because of the way it travels and becomes sensationalized, it gets away from you. And beneath all of it is just a girl from Boca who loves art, and I think that’s why it’s been such a deeply healing gift to disappear into this character — to take off one mask and put on another.”

In many ways, Glinda is just another character, one who presents as a polished, popular beauty. But much like Grande, there’s trauma and heartache simmering beneath. In fact, she and director Jon M. Chu began exploring those parallels almost immediately upon her casting, a process that ultimately informed their version of Glinda. “She talked a lot about her own life, about playing a character of Ariana Grande, and also growing up at the same time and going through tragedy,” says Chu, alluding to an unfathomably bleak period in Grande’s timeline, beginning in 2017, when a suicide bomber attacked the Manchester stop of her Dangerous Woman Tour, leaving 22 concertgoers dead and many more injured; the following year, her dear friend, collaborator and ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died of an accidental overdose at 26.

“We talked about how, no matter what, she’s had to go up on that stage and give joy to people and how difficult that can be,” he continues. “That was where it all started, the seeds of Glinda, and obviously we weren’t going to do Ariana Grande’s story, but this was a character that lived in the same garden.”

“It became this beautiful evolution of getting to know myself beneath it all,” says Grande. Saint Laurent suit, shirt, tie, shoes; Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

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The part didn’t come quickly or easily, however. In fact, Grande had to audition three separate times for producer Marc Platt and Chu, who had real hesitation about casting a global pop star who’d never carried a movie before. Never mind that the role required a precise cocktail of humor and vulnerability. After Grande’s first audition, she was asked to remove her pop star trappings before coming in again — so, at audition No. 2, there was no foundation, no winged eyeliner, no high ponytail.

“People who didn’t understand would say, ‘Oh, that’s so silly, they know how talented you are,’ and I was like, ‘That’s very nice, but Glinda requires so much. I have to be able to earn this and I don’t want it unless I’ve earned it,’ ” says Grande, oozing an earnestness that has defined the entire promotional tour. “It became this beautiful evolution of getting to know myself beneath it all. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I love this person underneath the drag.’ ”

Photographed by AB + DM

But Chu’s concerns weren’t without merit. At that point, Grande’s only real Hollywood bona fides were an early teen stint in the Broadway musical 13 and, shortly after, as goofy sidekick Cat Valentine on the hit Nickelodeon comedy Victorious and its short-lived spinoff, Sam & Cat. More recently, she’d immersed herself fully in music, save for the occasional Saturday Night Live appearance where she’d showcase her comedic timing and pitch-perfect impressions (her Jennifer Coolidge is worth a google). The only project that would have lured her back to acting was Wicked, which she made exceedingly and consistently clear.

“Ariana Grande stalked me for 10 years, more or less,” says Platt, who had been a producer on the Broadway version as well. “In her very sweet way, she’d ask to come see me whenever she heard maybe there was a movie in the works.” There are scores of old interviews online of Grande calling Wicked, which she’d first seen on Broadway at 10, her dream gig. She even brought it up as both a passion and priority when signing with talent agency CAA in 2011. (She was 18 at the time.)

“It felt like the more successful the music became, the more people tried to destroy me,” Grande says of the tabloid pile-on earlier in her career. Khaite dress; Irene Neuwirth earrings; Coperni boots. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

Once a formal audition process inched closer to reality, Grande enlisted famed acting coach Nancy Banks, whose client roster has included Margot Robbie, Jennifer Aniston and Forest Whitaker, to help her prepare. Without a script written, much less available, Banks gave the pop star what she calls “a crash course in acting,” assigning her monologue after monologue from other productions. “Three times a week, two hours a day for months, she just kept her head down and went from vocal class [with Eric Vetro] to me,” says Banks, who was utterly bowled over by Grande’s commitment. “The really great ones work their asses off … but she wore me down — and I mean that delightfully, of course.”

At a certain point, Grande became so invested in the process that she began advising her potential rivals for the role. Without naming names — everyone from Reneé Rapp to Amanda Seyfried to Dove Cameron auditioned — Grande says she was in touch with so many people going up for either Elphaba or Glinda that she found herself sharing her song choices, her schedule and, in a few instances, even her rehearsal time at Vetro’s home studio. When I gently suggest that this behavior is borderline insane, she laughs. Her mom, an engineer and CEO of a business that sells marine communications equipment, had said something similar: “She was just like, ‘Wait, you did what?! You went to Eric’s house with who?’ ” says Grande. “And I was like, ‘Why not?’ And she was like, ‘My God, Ariana!’ ” (For what it’s worth, Grande has been working on boundaries.)

But in late 2021, it was Grande who ultimately landed the role. A video of Chu sharing the news with her has since done several laps around the internet. “I love her so much,” Grande says of Glinda, as tears stream down her face. “I’m going to take such good care of her.” Not long after, Grande relocated to London, where parts one and two filmed back-to-back over the course of a year and a half. She focused on nothing else for the duration — no singing, no songwriting, no touring — a decision that Chu still marvels at: “Can you imagine how much money she must be losing by doing Glinda?” he says.

“This feeling that people are seeing me — like, actually me — it’s so silly because I’ve been seen for so long, but it feels like it’s maybe for the first time and it’s just different,” says Grande. Balmain dress; Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

_Wicked_’s second installment, Wicked: For Good, hits theaters in November. Without wading into spoiler territory, she confirms that part two is considerably darker than part one. “I’m still recovering,” says Grande. She and co-star Cynthia Erivo, the Elphaba to her Glinda, will engage in another press tour, too, an almost inconceivable prospect given how long, emotional and viral this one has been. The actresses have spent much of it syncing their character-specific wardrobes, as they clutch each other’s fingers and shed tears at almost every stop. At this point, “people think we’re secretly married,” offers Grande, who adds of what she calls “the Gelphie stuff,” referring to the internet’s vast collection of fan fiction and art explicitly dedicated to a sapphic pairing of Elphaba and Glinda: “I wish I could unsee some things. I mean, wow, I had a feeling, but I didn’t know it would be on this scale or this graphic.”

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Don’t let Grande’s pop stardom fool you; at her core, she is and always has been a theater nerd.

Growing up in Boca Raton, Florida, Grande’s father was the family artist — a painter, photographer and graphic designer — but it was her mom who indulged her and half brother Frankie’s early character work. In fact, Joan Grande, a Barnard-educated businesswoman, had a particular flair for the macabre, which explains why her daughter’s second or third birthday was _Jaws_-themed and young Grande spent a good chunk of childhood in a Jason mask. “My family would do face paint on a Thursday in July, and my dad would come home from work and we’d be skeletons and he’d be like, ‘What on earth?’ ” says Grande, then immediately corrects herself: “Actually, he probably wouldn’t even blink an eye. He was probably like, ‘Oh, hi honey.’ ”

She met her best friend, Aaron Simon Gross, doing local children’s theater when they were 6 or 7. “She was always good at everything,” says Gross, regaling me with stories of Grande tirelessly workshopping scenes from an early production of Give My Regards to Broadway. “I remember sitting on her couch one day watching, like, Julie Andrews Victor/Victoria videos, and I think we were both just like, ‘Oh my God, I found my person, someone who speaks the same language I do, in South Florida.’ ”

“I really thought I’d be a Broadway girl forever,” says Grande. Schiaparelli dress Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

A few times a year, Grande’s family and his would fly to New York to gorge themselves on Broadway shows. Then they’d return home, and Ariana and Aaron would turn even school projects into theatrical opportunities. There was once a science project on mitochondria for which they wrote and starred in a short film, he recalls, and at least one history project that they made Broadway-themed. The two ultimately landed on Broadway themselves with roles in Jason Robert Brown’s celebrated, if brief, run of 13. On their days off, a then 14-year-old Grande and Gross would run around Manhattan taking in other shows. Even later, when Grande was a massively successful pop star, he would visit her on the road, and they’d watch Rent on the tour bus.

“I really thought I’d be a Broadway girl forever,” says Grande. “I mean, that was the dream: I’d be in New York City doing eight shows a week, and then maybe on the side I’d be able to do music, and some people would want to hear it.”

Instead, she was cast as the lovable ditz on Nickelodeon’s Victorious, which unexpectedly thrust her to a kind of teen idol status. She’s said publicly that she’s been reprocessing her experience on the Dan Schneider comedy in light of the allegations of sexual harassment and toxic workplace conditions made by other former child stars in the 2024 doc series Quiet on Set. And though she has positive memories from the period, she’s said she’s since looked back at old clips and found herself “shocked” by the pervasive sexual innuendos.

“There are pieces of you and your story that are woven throughout your songwriting, but then, because of the way it travels and becomes sensationalized, it gets away from you,” says Grande. Schiaparelli dress, Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

“Did you ever feel unsafe?” I ask, which leads to the only moment in our nearly two hours together when Grande appears uncomfortable.

“I’ve sort of talked about the protective measures that I think need to be put in place,” she says, sidestepping the question.

“Therapy?” I ask.

“And then some. I have dreams of a world where you’re not allowed to enter the entertainment industry without having it written in your contract, whether it’s with the record label or the production company, that there will be therapy multiple times a week and a support system,” she says. “Being on a show that changes your life or releasing a song that changes your life exposes you to many forces, both love and hate, and there is no manual.”

Grande certainly could have used one when her own musical career skyrocketed, beginning with 2013’s “The Way.” The track, which earned Grande her first of many top 10 debuts on the Hot 100, signaled a departure from the bubblegum image that she’d established on Nick. From there, she’d deliver hit after hit after hit, ultimately becoming Spotify’s most streamed female artist of the 2010s. More recently, Billboard ranked Grande, who also writes and produces her own work, high on its list of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century, noting that “her standing today as a veritable icon is less a reflection of the efficacy of established systems that promoted her rise, and more a testament to her enduring, generational talent.” Rolling Stone has been similarly effusive, praising “a whistle tone that rivals Mariah Carey’s in her prime.” But the petri dish nature of the attention that came with all of it was a lot to absorb.

“I was so lucky to have incredible friends and family and an incredible therapist, even though there were rumors about her leaving me,” says Grande, referring to a nasty tabloid report from years earlier that even her shrink couldn’t deal with her. “It was just a crazy time: All I wanted was to sing and for it to be about my work, and it felt like the more successful the music became, the more people tried to destroy me.”

“It was wild. It felt like a death,” she says of the last day on set of Wicked. Saint Laurent suit, shirt, tie, Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

That pile-on arguably hit fever pitch in 2015, when a then-22-year-old Grande was caught on a leaked security video licking a doughnut she hadn’t purchased and proclaiming she “hates America.” (She’d later apologize profusely and suggest that her comment was referring to the country’s obesity problem; the following year, while hosting SNL, she poked fun at the hullabaloo: “A lot of kid stars end up doing drugs, or in jail, or pregnant, or get caught licking a doughnut they didn’t pay for.”) There were also cockamamie rumors that Grande insisted on being, among other things, carried like a baby and photographed only from her left side. An unverified list of off-limits interview subjects, which included current and ex-boyfriends, made the rounds as well. Then tragedy hit in Manchester, and suddenly all of it seemed so silly. Grande has said she went from “diva” to victim and hero virtually overnight.

At 23, she had managed to escape physically unharmed from what was then the deadliest act of terrorism in the U.K. since the 2005 London bombings, but she was emotionally shattered. Still, two weeks later, Grande mustered the strength to return to the city of Manchester to meet with mourning families. While there, she, in collaboration with her then-manager Scooter Braun, hosted a benefit concert that raised a staggering $25 million for the victims and their families. They recruited everyone from Justin Bieber to Miley Cyrus to Coldplay to take part, though it was Grande’s performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which she belted through sobs, that was arguably the most memorable. Since then, Grande, who has said she suffered PTSD from the incident, has become a vocal advocate for gun control, as she has for other causes, including LGBTQ rights.

Khaite dress; Irene Neuwirth earrings Photographed by AB + DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

Though there is considerably more love than hate being hurled at Grande these days, she isn’t immune to the periodic barb, be it about her appearance, her vocal register or her latest relationship, which has long been a matter of tabloid intrigue. Lest you need the refresher, most of Grande’s exes, who include rapper Big Sean and SNL alum Pete Davidson, were name-checked in her hit song “thank u, next.” On a more recent track, 2024’s “yes, and?” she can be heard addressing the relentless fascination, asking: “Why do you care whose dick I ride?” Though Grande sees little upside in explaining her lyrics, the latter is believed to be in response to her current relationship with Wicked co-star and fellow theater nerd Ethan Slater. The tabloid version of their love story suggests he left his wife and baby for her, though Grande, among others, has denounced that narrative, stating in an interview with Vanity Fair last fall: “There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being.” (Grande, too, was married; though she and real estate broker Dalton Gomez had already separated by the time rumors of a new relationship had surfaced.)

As she’s gotten older, Grande says she’s felt less compelled to defend herself and her choices, which is not to say the rumors and misinformation don’t get under her skin. “It’ll never be unpainful,” she says. “But also, I walk with the awareness that I’m an artist and this is a path that I’ve chosen, and so I just try to protect myself so that I never start to resent the art.”

“It’ll never be unpainful,” Grande says of the rumors and misinformation. Saint Laurent suit, shirt, tie, Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB & DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

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As Grande considers her future, acting is where she says her heart and her focus will continue to be. And though that will undoubtedly irk her music fans, who’ve been waiting patiently for the tour that never happened following her 2024 album, Eternal Sunshine, it’s a predictable outcome to anyone who was with Grande and Erivo on their final day on set. “As you’ve noticed, both of these women can cry on a dime,” says Platt. “Now multiply that times a thousand, and that’s the amount of tears on the last day.”

Grande doesn’t argue with that assessment. “It was wild,” she says. “It felt like a death.”

Looking ahead, she recognizes that both the experience and the impact of Wicked will be almost impossible to replicate, which is why she’ll do her best not to try. “I think it makes you hungry for something different,” she says, though what that might look like remains elusive.

At press time, there was a tremendous amount of industry heat around Grande, who proved herself adept at both comedy and drama with her performance as Glinda. In fact, agents and managers alike will rattle off a slew of projects that allegedly have been offered to her already — a disaster wedding comedy, a female detective romp set in a _Housewives_-style reality show, a Spaceballs sequel — but they all say that she’s yet to engage on any of it.

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny, but I’m blushing,” says Grande, and I take her word for it, as her face is still largely obstructed by that pink mask. Then she adds, more earnestly: “I just think it’s such an important thing to stay connected to that guttural creative thing in my heart and my chest that wants to give itself over to something that screams at me and says, ‘Oh, that’s a really cool challenge.’ I have a thing, and when it goes off, I know.”

In the meantime, there’s another installment of Wicked to promote and, inevitably, more tears left to cry.

“I think it makes you hungry for something different,” she says of what’s next, post Wicked. Balmain dress; Irene Neuwirth earrings. Photographed by AB + DM; Styling by Mimi Cuttrell; Hair: Alyx Liu. Makeup: Michael Anthony. Set Design: Lauren Bahr at Walter Schupfer Management.

This story appears in the Feb. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.