You’ve seen the photos. Ariana Grande on the Wicked press tour, looking different from a few years ago. And you’ve seen the comments. Thousands of them. Everyone is feeling entitled to an opinion about her body.
Ariana Grande weight loss has become a massive topic, and it’s absolutely mental that we’re still doing this in 2025.
What She’s Actually Said About Weight Loss
Ariana reshared a video from last year’s Wicked tour in late November. Not to re-explain herself, but as a “loving reminder” to just stop it.
During that interview, she became rightfully emotional discussing being poked at since the age of 16. “I’ve been a specimen in a petri dish. I’ve heard every version of what’s wrong with me. Then you fix it, and it’s wrong for different reasons.”
She’s been reading comments about her appearance for close to a decade. When she looked one way, people said she was too thin. Now, she just looks different, and everybody is an interested doctor.
In 2023, she posted a TikTok about this. Said the body people thought looked “healthy”? That was actually when she was at her lowest. On antidepressants, drinking, eating poorly, and feeling awful. But because she looked a certain way, everyone assumed she was fine.
Why Is Ariana Grande So Skinny? Isn’t Your Question to Ask
When you notice someone looks way different, your brain craves an explanation. But this is what happens when you express that concern in public.
You’re contributing to the noise that person has to wade through every day. Whether you think it’s a kind thing to say or not, you’re still making an observation on someone else’s body when you know nothing about their life.
Ariana has been struggling with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. She’s been open about trauma from Manchester, the death of Mac Miller, and relationship problems. Her mental health was challenged in ways most people can’t imagine.
During the Wicked press tour in November 2025, she said it again. “There’s a comfort level we shouldn’t have commenting on others’ looks, appearance, what we think is going on behind the scenes or their health. That’s really dangerous.”
The Ariana Grande Skinny Conversation Nobody Wins
Social media’s been buzzing with theories. Some reckon it’s an Ariana Grande eating disorder. Others think pressure from filming Wicked took its toll. People post before-and-after photos like they’re presenting evidence in court.
That’s the problem. We’ve created this world in which concern grants us the right to rip apart somebody’s body publicly. Even if you care deeply, broadcasting that to millions is not constructive. It adds to the noise.
One Reddit user wrote Ariana looks like she’s “made of glass.” On Twitter, someone said her appearance was “hard to watch.” These comments come from supposed worry, but they’re still harmful.
She’s been clear. She doesn’t welcome these conversations. She’s asked repeatedly for people to stop. At what point do we actually listen?
What About Her Costars?
It’s not just Ariana. Her Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh faced similar scrutiny. TikTok videos compile before and after shots of all three, suggesting an extreme dieting culture on set.
That’s pure speculation dressed up as concern. We don’t know what anyone’s going through. We don’t know their medical history, their relationship with food, their mental health, or anything.
What we do know is that publicly analysing these women’s bodies creates a toxic environment where other people, especially young fans, absorb the message that bodies are up for public judgment.
What Happened to Ariana Grande – The Actual Damage
When you comment on someone’s weight loss, no matter how positively, you’re supporting the idea that how we look is the best gauge of a person.
Between 900,000 and nearly two million people in Canada experience symptoms that meet the criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis at any given time. In the UK, similar numbers. These conversations don’t just affect celebrities; they also impact the general public. They affect everyone watching.
Young girls see Ariana get torn apart for being thin. They see the endless analysis, speculation, and judgment. Some will internalise that scrutiny. Some will develop their own disordered relationships with food.
The National Eating Disorder Information Centre says commenting on bodies publicly adds to stigma and can make it more difficult for individuals to seek help. While you’re tapping out your “concern” about Ariana, you might be making it more difficult for others to talk when they need help.
The Double Standard
Remember when Ariana looked different a few years ago? People commented then, too. Said she’d gained weight. Made jokes.
Now she’s thinner, and everyone’s suddenly worried. You can’t win as a woman in the spotlight. You’re always too something. Too thin, too overweight, too muscular, too soft.
It’s the same rubbish women have had to put up with for time immemorial, cleverly dressed up as concern. “I’m just concerned about her health” is now the socially sanctioned form of body-shaming.
What Actually Helps
If you really want help with body dysmorphia, eating disorders and mental health, there are ways to do it that don’t involve scrutinising specific people’s bodies.
Support organisations that are helping those who are struggling. Push back when you see body shaming in your circles. Interrogate your own biases about what bodies look like.
Don’t compliment weight loss. Don’t enquire if people have lost or gained weight. Don’t judge health by appearance. Basic things we should all do.
Maybe we could let Ariana promote her film without thousands feeling entitled to comment on her body.
The Bigger Picture
The fixation on Ariana Grande’s weight loss is a symptom of a larger issue. We are in that strange moment when body “positivity” and extreme thinness as a beauty ideal co-exist.
Ozempic and other weight loss drugs are everywhere. Celebrities are getting smaller. The heroin chic look of the 2000s is making an insidious return. And then we’re not supposed to notice, and yet we keep noticing so much that we can’t stop talking about it.
Ariana’s caught in the middle. She’s trying to live her life, work her job, and struggle with her stuff. But she can’t, because millions believe they are owed an explanation for why her body looks this way.
What She Deserves
Ariana deserves to exist in her body without constant commentary. She deserves to promote her film without being asked about her weight in every interview. She deserves privacy regarding her health.
She’s asked for this. Multiple times. In videos, interviews, and Instagram stories. She’s been as clear as possible that these conversations are harmful.
The question is whether we’re actually going to respect that or keep pretending our “concern” justifies public speculation.
Sooner or later, we have to ask what we’re really achieving. Are we helping anyone? Are we making things better? Or are we contributing to a culture that finds it appropriate to publicly slice open women’s bodies under the pretext of caring?
Ariana Grande’s weight loss will trend for as long as we make it trend by clicking, commenting, and sharing theories. But perhaps we should all shut up and let the woman simply exist peacefully.
Wouldn’t that be novel?
