From her time as Cat on Nickelodeon’s Victorious at just 17 years old through her over a decade-long music career starting with Broadway roles at 15 and solo world tours at just 20, Ariana Grande is no stranger to life in the spotlight. The now 29-year-old singer and actress has practically grown up in the public eye, making her no stranger to criticism, too. But, after facing tons of negative comments on her recent body changes, Grande took to TikTok share her thoughts on body shaming and living as “a person with a body” in the age of social media.
“I don’t do this often—I don’t like it and I’m not good at it,” Grande candidly began her three-minute long video addressing the concerns she has faced in recent weeks as a result of her noticeably thinner figure. “I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies no matter what your intention,” she first explains in regards to the commonality of body shaming and general body talk on social media. “There are ways to compliment people or ignore something you see that you don’t like that I think we should all help each other work towards that to keep each other safer.”
In regards to her own, personal body changes the singer explains that there are “many different ways to look healthy and beautiful” and that the body that fans have been comparing her current figure to was in fact “the unhealthiest version of [her] body.” Grande explains further that the image of herself that many fans have deemed “more” healthy than her current physique was actually the product of her taking several antidepressants, “drinking on them, eating poorly and at the lowest points in [her] life.”
Though she acknowledged that she need not explain herself or her body to anyone, Grande says she hopes that her openness might bring about positive change when it comes to how we talk about each others bodies. “You never know what someone is going through,” she reiterates, “so be gentle with each other and with yourselves.”
