Three years ago, Ariana Grande made a plea for people not to comment about her body.
Responding in a TikTok video to comments about her weight and figure, the pop star and actress told fans there were “many different ways to look healthy and beautiful”.
Three years on, and the social media speculation about her body and her health has continued. After “endless, ongoing public scrutiny”, the star’s spokesperson released a statement saying she “will be taking a step back from visibility” at the end of her current tour.
“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily,” the statement stressed, “and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”
It follows the release of her eighth studio album Petal and the graphic video for its title track on Friday.
The song refers to the pressures of fame, and the video shows Grande as a starlet who tries out for a group of talent scouts, dressing as a variety of different pop star personas. None are deemed good enough.
The men initially inform her that it “couldn’t hurt” to lose some weight, among other things, before they tell the final persona that they miss “the way you used to be”.
She then murders them all with a chainsaw.
“I wrote [this album] from a place that I don’t usually, which was like an unfiltered rage,” she has said.
Whatever the message, the appearance is the thing that has attracted the most attention, and with many on social media saying the scrutiny comes from genuine concern. The comments and screengrabs flooded social media over the weekend.
‘Specimen in a petri dish’
The top comment under the Petal video on YouTube said: “It’s not about wanting the old Ariana back. It’s about wanting her to be healthy.”
One fan wrote on X that she “has become so thin that people are genuinely concerned”.
Her loyal fans sent their support, making #Weloveyouariana trend on social media. Some criticised those who were focusing on her body. “No-one has the right to comment on anyone else’s body or appearance,” a user wrote.
Music journalist Sophie Williams told BBC Radio 5 Live that the “constant commentary around her has really, really elevated over the weekend as she’s been promoting new music”.
“So we’re led to think in part that that [commentary] has brought us to this decision,” she said.
Grande is scheduled to continue the Eternal Sunshine Tour in Chicago this week before 10 dates at London’s O2 arena, where the tour will finish on 1 September.
Her “step back” means she will no longer star in Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical Sunday in the Park with George opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey at London’s Barbican in 2027.
Grande has lived for more than 15 years – half her life – in the spotlight.
“I’ve been doing this in front of the public and been a specimen in a petri dish since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” Grande told an interviewer during the press tour for the first Wicked film in 2024.
“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?
“It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise.”
Grande began singing at the age of eight and made her name as a teenage actress in Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious and its spin-off, Sam & Cat.
Since releasing her debut single in 2011, she has scored 10 US number one hits and earned 20 Grammy Award nominations, winning three times.
She has also made a successful move into acting, earning an Oscar nomination in 2025 for Wicked.
But she has also experienced some difficult times.
In 2017, 22 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack outside her concert at Manchester Arena.
The following year, she said she was dealing with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that she wanted to “not be afraid” but added: “The truth is, it’s scary. It’s scary going anywhere. You look at places differently.”
When her ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died in 2018, she later spoke about her “all-consuming” grief.
Her relationships and break-ups have never been far from the headlines, including with comedian Pete Davidson, estate agent Dalton Gomez, her married Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, and former backing dancer Ricky Alvarez.
In another new song, Oh Well, she says an unnamed ex or exes can “all go to hell”.
Elsewhere, she has also spoken about having depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and has called for mandatory therapy for child stars.
This summer, she launched the Brighter Days Ahead Foundation, a mental health initiative to support groups including the crew and performers on her current tour.
“A lot of people perhaps forget that she’s been famous for nearly 15 years, and she has a unique story in that she sadly lived out a lot of trauma in the public eye,” Williams says.
