Ariana Grande is in full Oscars campaign mode. Given her wild wicker basket dress at the Critics Choice Awards this weekend, it looks like she’s having just as much fun as she did during that bonkers Wicked press tour. Ari was on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. During her appearance, she talked about mental health. Speaking from experience, Ari said that because dealing with fame from a young age can be extremely difficult, studios and record labels should be providing their talent with therapy sessions.
Ariana Grande is advocating for therapy for young stars in both the acting and music worlds, saying that weekly appointments should be built into their contracts.
The Oscar-nominated actor and Grammy-winning pop star — who got her start on Broadway and the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” — opened up to Marc Maron on his “WTF” podcast about having to deal with fame at such a young age, particularly with the media scrutinizing her personal life and body.
“I was 19 when all of that nonsense started happening to me, and it’s just a crazy piece of the puzzle,” she said. “It’s something you work so hard to try and understand, and it will never make sense to me. I just love art and that’s all I care about, so it’s just weird that that’s a part of it … It started when I was so young with my body or rumors about my relationships or about my team or about my mom or about people I love. There was just no limit.”
Grande said the situation was “impossible to navigate,” and that’s why she chooses to speak up about the topic whenever she gets the chance. She’s particularly passionate about therapy, and told Maron she thinks it should be built into the contract of every young star.
“It’s so important that these record labels, these studios, these TV studios, these big production companies make it a part of the contract when you sign on to do something that’s going to change your life in that way, on that scale,” Grande said. “You need a therapist to be seeing several times a week.”
She continued that because the big studios and labels “know how your life is going to change” and have seen how fame can “impact people in a negative way,” they “should be responsible for protecting you from that.”
“When these people are cast in these life-changing roles, or when they get that record deal, when they get that moment, that should be non-negotiable in the contract,” Grande said. “Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve … So the same person who is meant to do art is the exact same person who is not meant to deal with that shit.”
Grande added about her own therapist: “I love her so much. We do great work!”
The star has spoken up about these issues before, telling Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast in June that she was “reprocessing” her time on “Victorious.” Though neither Badgley nor Grande specifically mentioned it, the episode aired just a few months after the release of Investigation Discovery’s “Quiet on Set,” which included misconduct allegations against “Victorious” creator Dan Schneider. He has denied the allegations and is pursuing a defamation suit over the documentary.
“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through being a performer at that level at such a young age,” Grande told “Podcrushed.” “The environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around and like I said, I’m still in real time reprocessing my relationship to it.”
Preach, Ari. I think this is a great idea. Several former child stars have strongly advocated for mental health support and increased protections for stars, including Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and Ariana’s former Sam & Cat costar, Jenette McCurdy. Labels and studios *should* provide easily accessible mental health support for their talent. Executives and publicists do know how much life is going to change for the actors and artists that hit it big. It’s also difficult for the talent that has a flop or receives a lot of negative reviews. And, of course, there’s the overall trauma of dealing with sketchy, sh-tty people in the biz. I think “impossible to navigate” is a good way to describe it. Hopefully, this topic will reignite now with even more eyes and ears hearing it and lead to some form of meaningful change.
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- SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 07: Ariana Grande Butera wearing a Dior dress and Jimmy Choo shoes arrives at the 30th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards held at The Barker Hangar on February 7, 2025 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 961241731, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ariana Grande Butera, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 07: Ariana Grande Butera wearing a Dior dress and Jimmy Choo shoes arrives at the 30th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards held at The Barker Hangar on February 7, 2025 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 961242047, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Ariana Grande Butera, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
Therapy is desperately needed in all industries and worldwide. Healthcare should be free in this country.
“Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve … So the same person who is meant to do art is the exact same person who is not meant to deal with that shit.”
This point is brilliant. So many talented people end up harmed by the industry and then using drugs and alcohol to self soothe to deal with it. The sacrifices performers make to share their art with the world at that scale was beautifully pointed out by one of the speakers at Whitney Houston’s funeral.
Agreed. In the last 5 years or so, K-Pop idols have started taking mental health breaks. Their companies call them ‘hiatus’. Of course, this happened after several high profile suicides. The important thing, is that the fans support this and the idols come back healthier and happy. Ariana’s idea of counseling is great.
K-pop fandom is even crazier than the American entertainment industry, in the sense that fans demand complete ownership of their stars’ lives. Should it get out that a K-pop star is dating someone, fans rage at them for being selfish traitors and that the love of their fans should be enough for them. It gets to the point where the performer is made to apologize to fans and promise to stop dating. The mental health breaks might be so they can actually have a life?
A few months ago there was a news article about BlacPink’s Jisoo dating a Korean actor with the full backing of her label and that’s where I learned about the background and why it’s newsworthy. Even in their Netflix documentary, the story is that the whole group lives in an apartment together and has no private life outside the band.
I completely agree with your assessment of toxic kpop fandom.
BLACKPINK however hasn’t been living like that for a while though. They all distinctly have their own lives and careers thank goodness
Off topic, but I can’t get over how much she is deliberately making herself look like a child. It makes me feel uneasy. The eyebrows are straight-up cartoon cuteness indicators. Her extremely thin frame is exaggerated by her short stature, which is the one thing she didn’t choose but plays up to the same baby girl effect. There is an element of Audrey Hepburn cosplay in there, but with yellow-pink cartoonish coloring. Ah sorry, rant over, I’ll go get a coffee.
Goggle some recent images, she looks asian now
She started working as a child actor. I think, getting older triggered her like it happens to a lot of child actors. She was trying to look more mature when she was in her 20’s. Now, in her 30’s, she adopted this child-like persona. I really hope she gets helps for whatever she is dealing with internally.
It’s not lost on me that the very factual statements she’s making about the need for supports also help portray her in a far more sympathetic light, given the harmful things she’s done to others that have come to light. Yea I know people are complex…I question her motives.
I definitely see your point and I would never tell you that you were wrong. One thing I did notice was that there are so many videos of Ariana from her stint on Nickelodeon that are just unbelievable. She’s made to suck on her toes, sit in a circle surrounded by boys while goo explodes in her face, her trying to get an eggplant to “explode” in her face, standing in a circle surrounded by boys while they soak her with a super-soaker so that her shirt is practically see-through… All while she’s 16/17. I admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for her because I did grow up right after that Victorious/Sam & Cat cohort, so I kind of feel like I watched her “grow up,” but I do think it’s very likely that she was exploited as a young adolescent.
She just seems like a very broken person in many ways so the whole thing just makes me feel sad.
Then she needs to take a year or two from working and actually go to that therapy she strongly suggests. And work on herself for a little while. Because it doesn’t seem she is doing that.
She is very talented but that woman desperately needs therapy ASAP.
I said this in the post about Ariana yesterday but I just watched that Quiet on the Set documentary this past weekend (I know, I’m late to the party) and I agree. So much exploitation that’s absolutely inappropriate–oftentimes sexual exploitation. The things that these young stars, oftentimes young girls, have to go through is inexcusable, not to mention disgusting.
I think Ariana is probably still working through stuff, which explains (doesn’t excuse) some of her messiness. Liz Gillies, Ari’s co-star on Victorious, is actually MARRIED to a much older man who worked on the set and many people speculate that he groomed her.
By all means they could pay for therapy but clients should be permitted to consult independent practitioners, not anyone selected or controlled by studios and production companies. And on top of this, the therapy comes after the fact — it’s easier to prevent damage, but not as today’s systems are structured, reinforced and rewarded. Employers also don’t want their artists to “wake up” and seek independence or challenge their contracts. The whole thing needs reform.
As for Ariana, she sounds both mixed up and self serving at the same time.
If this is so important to her, she should be working with her union to get more protections for young actors into the next SAG contract.
Was annoyed at Chappell Roan’s comments at the Grammys about health insurance. Filmworkers have insurance because they fought hard to form unions and get contracts that included it. And they regularly go out on strike to keep it.
As a proud union member, I get annoyed when people think they are too special to need collective action to get what they need.
@GRANT I didn’t know the details or extent of the abuse faced by the child actors at Nickelodeon. That’s horrifying and it’s clear accountability isn’t taking place. Your points bring a lot of context to her statement. I knew she was a former child actor, but didn’t know that she had been a Nickelodeon actor and part of that group subjected to such intense sexual exploitation.
I think it’s great of studios/executives work in a weekly stipend for mental health care in the contract, but they shouldn’t provide the therapist. Trust is the biggest part of care and I’m not so sure every therapist can draw the line when it’s the top signing the paycheck. Minors receive X amount, parent or guardian responsibility to do it & with whom. Adults choose on their own.