Ariana Grande is opening up about her body: 'There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful'
Ariana Grande hopes that by being open and vulnerable about her body some good might come from it.
On Tuesday, the “thank u, next” singer took to TikTok to speak about comments she has received about her appearance.
“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 shared. “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, nonsense — we just should really work towards not doing that as much.”
Grande, who is currently filming the upcoming Wicked movie, explained that while many people have criticized her for being “unhealthy” at a smaller size, “there are many different kinds of beautiful and there are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful.”
“I know personally, for me, the body that you've been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” she continued. “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,’ that in fact wasn't my healthy.”
The Nickelodeon alum also pointed out that even comments meant to be complimentary aren’t ideal because you “never know what someone is going through.”
“Even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with and you never know,” she said. “So be gentle with each other and with yourselves.”
Grande pleading with fans to rethink how bodies are talked about speaks to a larger societal issue. As Janet Lydecker, professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, previously told Yahoo Life: “Just the preoccupation that Americans have with weight, and with weight being part of attractiveness, and a source of power, particularly, but not exclusively for women, there’s a lot of pressure that we all feel in this culture to manipulate our bodies.”
Grande is no stranger to addressing comments made about her body. Back in 2015, after being called a "stick," she wrote that shaming statements about anyone are not OK. "We live in a day and age where people make it IMPOSSIBLE for women, men, anyone to embrace themselves exactly how they are. Diversity is sexy! Loving yourself is sexy!” Grande shared, “You know what is NOT sexy? Misogyny, objectifying, labeling, comparing and body shaming!!! Talking about people’s body’s as if they’re on display ASKING for your approval / opinion. THEY ARE NOT!!!! CELEBRATE YOURSELF. CELEBRATE OTHERS.”
In 2018, she also responded to a Facebook commenter who attacked her performance in her “Dangerous Woman” music video as too salacious.
"When will people stop being offended by women showing skin / expressing sexuality?" Grande questioned at the time. "Men take their shirts off / express their sexuality on stage, in videos, on Instagram, anywhere they want to... all. the. time. The double standard is so boring and exhausting. With all due respect, I think it's time you get your head out of your ass. Women can love their bodies too.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorders Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.
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