Ariana Grande’s big breakthrough came with the Nickelodeon show, Victorious, where she was cast as Cat Valentine. What’s really interesting is that she dyed her hair red every other week—a clever move by producers to maintain a vibrant and diverse cast.
In 2014, Grande posted about this hair journey on Facebook. “I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat … as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair. I now wear a wig on ‘Sam & Cat’,” she wrote, (via People).
As a global pop superstar, she shines brightly, but like many in the spotlight, she faces challenges and criticism regarding her appearance.
Ariana Grande responds to criticism about her appearance
During her promotion for the film Wicked, Ariana Grande sensibly emphasized the damaging impact of unsolicited body comments, expressing her heartfelt concern about society’s growing tendency to judge others’ appearances.
“I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been, you know, a specimen in a petri dish, really, since I was 16 or 17,” Grande, 31, said. “So, I have heard it all. I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me. And then you fix it and then it’s wrong for different reasons. There’s a comfortability that people have commenting on that, that I think is really dangerous.”
Grande has addressed comments about her physique in the past and opened up in an April 2023 TikTok post, receiving hate for appearing skinnier than usual.
“I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said at the time.
“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.”
Ariana Grande needed ‘time and therapy’ over teen fame
In a heartfelt moment on ‘Hot Ones,’ Ariana Grande shared how her teenage stardom at just 19 felt overwhelming. Ariana Grande shared how important “time and therapy” were for her to truly embrace her teenage fame.
During the episode, Ariana also talked about her reaction to her music leaking online before its release – admitting “it sucks”.
She said: “It’s really hard for me because it’s really disheartening and disappointing, and it sucks, and I am constantly trying to get to the bottom of how people get stuff.
“Whether it’s videos or pictures or audio, songs … so it’s conflicting because that is very frustrating and feels very dehumanising.
“And then the other side [of me] is like, but I’m so grateful to be an artist that people care about. And my fans want more of me, so they’re going to these extremes to steal and break in.
“It’s so lovely to be loved. But yeah, I sit somewhere in between being grateful to be here at all and being like, ‘But really? Come on’.”
Having spent the majority of her life in the limelight, Grande has become adept at navigating the unpredictable challenges that come with fame.
She told VanityFair: “The back-and-forth throughout the course of my career has been really hard to navigate mentally,” she says. “I was this approachable, funny redhead on Nickelodeon and everyone liked me. And then I had one too many hit records, and everyone decided that I was an evil diva. And then other terrible things happened, and all of a sudden I was this hero and this victim.”