Ariana Grande's Mom Steps In Amid Online Criticism

**Kaynna Cave** (0:07)
Welcome back to The TMZ Podcast. It's your girl, Kaynna Cave, joined with...

**Cara** (0:12)
I'm Cara. Hey, guys.

**Kaynna Cave** (0:14)
Cara, this is our first time on the podcast today. I'm so excited to do this with you. This is one of the social media team members. She's also my sorority sister, Alpha Kappa Alpha. So I'm excited to be here with Cara. So let's get into some news, some big topics of the day. We're going to start off with Ariana Grande. Love her, loved Wicked. But she is deciding to step out of the spotlight for just a little while. So she was scheduled to join her Wicked co-star, Jonathan Bailey, for the London stage revival. She has now withdrawn from that due to public scrutiny.
I guess, you know, just, you know, people are haters online in the comments. Definitely people like Ariana Grande, celebrities read these comments. While some should be advised not to, of course, it's very hard not to just, you know, read comments. So, rightfully so, she's taking a step back.
Her team announced due to this public scrutiny. And then her mom came in on Instagram, on an Instagram post under Ariana's latest Instagram, writing, you are magnificent. You know, I have problems with these words. You're great, she's saying, and this video is incredible. I love you, and I love it. As you should. What do you feel like with a star like Ariana Grande stepping back due to so much hate online?

**Cara** (1:36)
You know, I really don't blame her. I've been seeing so much stuff. Like, people are really rude and mean. So I think, like, yeah, take a step back. If that's what you know for your mental health, she doesn't owe us anything. People want to be rude, step back a little bit. Ariana, I do not blame you.

**Kaynna Cave** (1:49)
Yes, so I agree.
I think mental health breaks are a real thing. And, you know, I do hate that it comes at a cost of, you know, she was probably making money off of this show. And I'm not saying she needs the money or anything like that, but having to kind of miss out on a bag due to people and haters and trolls online, and you just need to take a rest and a break. I get it, but I hate it. So, yeah, according to Ariana's representative, the break is due in part to endless ongoing public scrutiny surrounding her public appearances. As you know, it seems a bit that, I'm not going to say Ariana Grande's weight fluctuates as far as she goes big and then goes small. It's more so like small and then smaller. Smaller and smaller. Small and smaller, and, you know, skinny and skinnier, I guess you can call it.
You know, there were some concerns with her right off of, I think Wicked, I even think during Wicked a little bit, right off of Wicked it seemed as if she had lost a lot of weight and you could see her bones.

**Cara** (2:51)
Did you see the pedal music video?

**Kaynna Cave** (2:53)
I didn't.

**Cara** (2:53)
I'm not going to lie, it is a little concerning. It is? Yeah, I think some people, you know, are out of care, like, Ariana, what's going on? But then other people are just straight up being rude.

**Kaynna Cave** (3:01)
Okay, you know what? I didn't see it, but I saw photos recently of her, and it is scary, but you know what? She's always been a tiny girl.

**Cara** (3:11)
Yeah.

**Kaynna Cave** (3:11)
So I don't know how that is for women. You know, I think some smaller women say, and if we have a picture, let me know, Tony, but I think some smaller women say it's harder to gain weight. I wish I had those problems, but I get it, and I would hope everything is okay, and maybe that's why she's taking this step back, because of what's being said, but maybe she's taking an internal look as well.
But yeah, so actress Jamila Jamil also weighed in recently, claiming Ariana was possibly dying right in front of us, and that's another thing, when other celebrities chime in and add on to the negativity.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:51)
That makes it so much worse.

**Kaynna Cave** (3:52)
Like they don't already get negativity themselves if you want to read the comment right now.

**Cara** (3:57)
This poor woman's possibly dying right in front of us. The outfit is designed to, how do you say that word? Incensuate 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.