Ariana Grande has announced she’ll be taking a break from the limelight — including pulling out of her plans to act in an upcoming musical — due to “endless, ongoing public scrutiny”.
After she wraps up her Eternal Sunshine Tour in September, it’s ‘bye bye, boy bye’ for now. That means Wicked fans won’t be getting the Ariana x Jonathan Bailey reunion they were hoping for on the West End in 2027.
The 33-year-old singer has been in the public eye for the past few years since the first Wicked press tour, and has been touring across the US and the UK over the past two months.
Her physical appearance has also been the topic of conversation for a lot of fans, with many people expressing concern about her health after seeing how much her body has changed, and the singer repeatedly having to address speculation about her weight and well-being in the public eye.
Ariana Grande steps back from the public eye
“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” the rep told PEOPLE.
“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”
A source close to Grande told the publication that the singer “performs a very physical show, and… she performs healthily and successfully at a very high level night after night”.
Concern for the we can’t be friends singer’s health ramped up even further last week after she released the music video for the title track on her eighth studio album, Petal — which is ironic, since the insider close to Grande said her latest studio album “isn’t about a breakup”, but “is a fight song, an anthem about the love-hate relationship with the public and their toxicity”.
In the same article, PEOPLE confirmed that Grande would no longer be in the Sunday in the Park with George, a 1984 musical by Stephen Sondheim adapted from the book of the same name by James Lapine. Grande was set to play Dot in the stage show alongside fellow Wicked actor, Jonathon Bailey, at London’s Barbican Centre next summer.
In a statement to the BBC, an Empire Street Productions representative said: “Following this evening’s announcement from Ariana Grande’s team, we can confirm that she has decided to step back from Sunday in the Park with George. We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support. We wish her nothing but the best.”
Ariana Grande hits back at comments on her body
Grande has clapped back at her audience for scrutinising her appearance in the past. In 2023, she posted a video on her TikTok gently asking her fans not to comment on her body, and also expressed that we shouldn’t be commenting on anyone’s bodies, despite their size.
“I don’t do this often, I don’t like it, I’m not good at it… but I just wanted to address some of 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 said in the video.
“The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” she continued.
@arianagrande ♡
♬ original sound – arianagrande
Grande has also asked people not to comment on her body in her music. In the 2024 song, yes, and?, she sings the lyrics: “Don’t comment on my body / do not reply.” But some of her fans are questioning how far things need to go before genuine concern for her health becomes more important than respecting her wishes to keep public commentary about her body at bay.
“As Ariana fans, we can’t keep pretending this is a normal weight for anyone,” one fan wrote.
“If we are silent about it, what are we ultimately teaching the next generation?” content creator Living My Beth Life said in a video. “It’s not even about Ariana specifically, although I realise I’m referencing her here, but it’s more about the toxic beauty standards and this idea that thinness is being rewarded again that needs to be challenged.”
@livingmy_bethlife Fans may be loving Ariana’s new album Petal but is its success about to be overshadowed by concerns for her health? Ariana herself has asked people not to comment on her appearance previously but when is it ok to challenge the “ultra thinness” trend that seems to be creeping back? When is concern for her young an impressionable audience allowed? #arianagrande #celebnews #petal
♬ Mozart/Requiem “Lacrimosa”(1394506) – Mint
It’s really tricky terrain to navigate, because regardless of which route you take, someone is likely to be hurt in the process. Ariana has made it clear that she doesn’t want her body to be a topic of public discussion, and that boundary deserves to be respected. At the same time, her appearance has become part of a much larger conversation about the return of extreme thinness and the beauty standards being presented to millions of people, particularly young women.
As for Grande, let’s hope this break from public scrutiny is exactly what she needs.
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