By rights, the 33 year-old singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande should be at the peak of her profession. She won acclaim for her performances in the Wicked films – the first one of which she was Oscar-nominated for – and has consistently released successful albums, including last week’s new record Petal, Grande. Under normal circumstances she would be looking forward to continuing her world tour, Eternal Sunshine. And next year, she was slated to make her London stage debut opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey in Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday In The Park With George.
There is, however, one rather significant issue with this, which has been discussed in the media with a mixture of prurience and genuine concern. Grande, not to put too fine a point on it, is frighteningly thin, leading many to suggest that she is suffering from bulimia, anorexia or some other illness that has led her to take on near-skeletal proportions. When she released her latest music video, ‘Petal’, recently, commentators were less struck by the VistaVision-shot cinematography than they were the spectacle of Grande looking deeply unwell.
None other than Jameela Jamil – herself no stranger to controversy – weighed in by saying on Instagram that “This poor woman is possibly dying right in front of us. This outfit is designed to accentuate the thinness for discourse. Her team are thoroughly irresponsible for not guiding her away from this deeply damaging image for her young fans to see so glamorized.”
