Ariana Grande has taken to social media to address the comments being made about her body – both in recent weeks and over the course of her decade-long career.
But despite Ari’s plea, searches for ‘then and now’ pictures of the Thank U, Next singer skyrocketed – proving there’s still so much still to be learnt when it comes to respecting people’s bodies…
In the candid TikTok, Ariana spoke openly about the body-shaming comments she’s encountered, writing, ‘You have talked a lot about [my body] over the past decade or longer so I’d like to join in this time.’
In her remarks, she gently urged people to stop commenting on people’s bodies, revealing that what some fans considered her ‘healthiest’ weight was actually when she was at her lowest behind the scenes.
‘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 paid such close attention to,’ she said.
‘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, not sexy, we just shouldn’t. We should really work toward not doing that as much.’
The star also added, ‘The body that you have been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them and eating poorly, and at the lowest version of my life,’ adding ‘That’s the first thing: healthy can look different.’
But despite the singer's pleas, people have still been searching for her then and now pictures – with searches for 'Ariana Grande then and now' spiking, as people look to compare photos of the teen star to the woman she is now.
This isn’t anything new. For as long as anyone can remember, celebs have always found their bodies being critiqued (sometimes more frequently than their art.) From Adele to Rebel Wilson, fluctuating bodies find themselves at the topic of hot conversation.
In fact, in the past few weeks singer Selena Gomez – who struggles with the autoimmune disease Lupus – had to publicly explain her weight gain was due to medication.
The obsession with policing famous women's bodies has long been a driving force of both the tabloid and, more recently, social media narratives. Too fat, or too thin, for decades it has been open season on other people dictating what women's bodies should look like, particularly if they are celebrities.
It’s time to listen to Ariana and finally leave the body-shaming behind, once and for all.