Ariana Grande has been one of the most prolific artists of the 2020s. When she’s not dominating the charts, she’s dominating the box office — and garnering nominations for every major award. But behind all of that has been persistent scrutiny of her health and appearance. To the surprise of her fans, she announced that after the conclusion of her “Eternal Sunshine” tour on Sept. 1, she’ll be taking a sabbatical from her career.
Over the last couple of years, Grande has been focusing on rebuilding her acting career through the Wicked franchise. When she’s not acting, she’s been releasing albums intermittently, with three albums in the past six years. What she hadn’t been doing, however, was actually touring. For her fans, this was the first time they got to see her perform since before the lockdown restrictions.
However, there was a big shadow hanging over this otherwise colossal occasion. Grande has faced recurring commentary about her body and appearance for years. When she released her long-awaited latest album, Petal, on July 31, the most intense wave of online discussion and concern about her appearance took over social media.
Some suggest this is sending a bad message to fans
There were comments describing her appearance as “concerning,” along with widespread speculation that she might be dealing with an eating disorder. Some corners of the internet even suggested that she might be sending the wrong message to her millions of fans, including young girls.
The Good Place star Jameela Jamil was one of the leading voices in that conversation. She wrote in part, “I don’t know Ariana and pray she recovers. I don’t think she’s in the comments sections of tiny posts, but young girls watching are, and we need to signal to THEM that this is not the time to pretend this is ok, just because ‘we shouldn’t talk about other people’s bodies.’”
Jameela Jamil doubles down on her stance regarding Ariana Grande’s appearance after receiving backlash for her initial comments on Ariana Grande “possibly dying”. And even using her own battle with anorexia to support her view
— sitcom crave (@sitcomcrave) August 2, 2026
“I said possibly. My god. And my point stands, that… pic.twitter.com/MUCQkeBj8l
Eventually, Grande sent out a message to the press on Aug. 2, with her representatives saying she “will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour.” That only fueled further speculation, with people debating whether the rumors about her health were true and whether Grande’s team was acknowledging that she needed to step away.
Grande decided to confront the speculation personally during her show in Chicago. The Grammy winner did not say whether she was experiencing any health difficulties, but she did say that taking a break had been planned even before speculation about her health reached a fever pitch.
She may be stepping away from the spotlight
According to Variety he said, “And I just want to be very, very clear: Multiple things can be true at the same time. Yes, boundaries can need to be set. Human beings can need a break sometimes. And also, this can be and will continue to be the greatest experience of my professional and creative life.”
Grande still has a movie coming out later in the year alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, but other than that, she has no other projects publicly lined up. For now, it seems she may be stepping away from the spotlight for as long as she needs to.
