Ariana Grande has offered an extremely powerful answer to fan conjecture over her shifting shape and fat shaming.
The chart-topping singer is presently working on the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, opposite Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh.
The 29-year-old took to TikTok with a message for people who had lately commented on her figure, admitting she didn’t like addressing the speculation since she wasn’t ‘good at it’.
However, she was keen to urge her fans to be ‘gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what’.
Talking directly to camera as she held her coffee and wore a crossbody bag and hoodie, ready to leave for work, the Thank U, Next singer began: ‘I don’t do this often, I don’t like it, I’m not good at it, but I just wanted to address your concerns about my body and talk a little bit about what it means to be a person with a body and to be seen and to be paid such close attention to.’
She continued: ‘I think we could be – I think we should be – gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what. If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is – healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, not sexy – we just shouldn’t.’
The actress and singer reminded her followers that there are ‘ways to compliment someone or ignore something that you see that you don’t like that I think we should help each other work towards’.
She continued her three-minute message by also highlighting that there are ‘many different kinds of beautiful, and ways to look healthy and beautiful’.
Addressing the speculation she’d received, she explained: ‘Personally for me, the body you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly, and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider ‘my healthy’, but that wasn’t my healthy.
Ariana also shared that she felt she ‘shouldn’t have to explain that’ but hoped that her ‘openness’ and ‘vulnerability’ might encourage some ‘good’ to come out of the situation.
She previously discussed her mental health issues in the aftermath of her ex-fiancé Mac Miller’s death in 2018.
She urged her supporters to be “gentle with each other and yourselves,” noting that “you never know what someone is going through” and that they may already be “working on it.”
She then added, semi-joking: ‘By the way, I’m not wearing eyelashes or eyeliner right now – this is my face, these are my eyes, so don’t freak out about that now too please, oh my God!’
The singer then ended her address with a positive message to fans that they were beautiful ‘no matter what weight, no matter how you like to do your makeup these days, no matter what cosmetic procedures you’ve had or not, or anything’.
‘I just think you’re beautiful and wanted to share some feelings.’