“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,'” says Ariana Grande in a new TikTok.
After recent paparazzi pics of Ariana Grande went viral, the “Wicked” star quickly became the subject of trolls and critics analyzing and commenting on her body. On Tuesday, she took the time to response to this misguided commentary.
In a very diplomatic TikTok, the “Thank U, Next” singer said that even though she doesn’t like doing it and thinks she’s bad at it, she wants “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 went on to say that it hs her believe that “we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what.”
She went on to say that we should really try to get away from commenting on people’s bodies, even if we’re well-intentioned and think we’re complimenting them. “There are ways to compliment someone,” she said, “or to ignore something you see that you don’t like.”
She then called out people comparing the way she looks today to how she used to look, noting that there are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful. “The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” she said.
Grande then went on to explain, “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.’ But that in fact wasn’t my ‘healthy.'”
The 29-year-old singer has been candid about her mental health struggles following the 2017 bombing in Manchester that killed 22 people, including children, and injured hundreds more after one of her concerts.
“You never know what someone is going through,” Grande said. “So 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.”
She then encouraged her fans and followers to “be gentle with each other, and with yourselves,” before concluding her video with a message of love.
“I think you’re beautiful no matter what you’re going through,” she said. “No matter what weight, no matter how you like to do your makeup these days, no matter what cosmetic procedures you’ve had or not, or anything, yeah I just think you’re beautiful and wanted to share some feelings.”
Grande has been busy preparing for the big-screen adaptation of “Wicked” alongside Cynthia Erivo. While she doesn’t specify what triggered this response, Grande was most recently spotted alongside Erivo supporting fellow co-star Jeff Goldblum at a concert in London on Saturday.