Life in the spotlight isn’t easy – and in particular, it’s not easy for women. The pressure to look right, to say the right things, to fulfil unwritten societal codes is there from the start, and it often takes a psychological toll. The history books are littered with women who were crushed by these pressures – from Marilyn Monroe to the witch-hunt against Britney Spears, pop culture has a habit of turning on its brightest, boldest female stars. That’s perhaps why Ariana Grande’s words on body shaming have cut so deep – it’s the same horrible story, repeated ad infinitum.
Ariana Grande addresses ongoing body-shaming comments made about her across social media in new TikTok. pic.twitter.com/RjL3SRyZMO
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 11, 2023
It begins, naturally, with trolls. Ariana Grande’s health has been the subject of speculation due to minute, scarcely perceptible, shifts in her appearance. It begins with one comment, and then another – before you know it, it’s a wave of negativity flooding her comments.
Choosing to shine a light on the internet’s darker aspects, Ariana Grande posted a TikTok video last night – April 11th – shutting down this speculation. “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 to be paid such close attention to,” she says in the clip. “You’ve been talking about it for a decade or longer so I’d like to join in this time.”
“I think we could be, 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, nonsense – we just should really work towards not doing that as much.”
She added: “There are ways to compliment someone or to ignore something that you see that you don’t like, that I think we should help each other work towards. We should aim toward being safer, and keeping each other safer.”
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Ariana was also careful to explore the dynamic between inner and outer health. Still a young woman, she’s been through so much in her life – the loss of Mac Miller cut her to the core, with grief casting a shadow over years of her life. That Ariana Grande has found lasting happiness was never guaranteed – the IG post of her wedding may be one of the platform’s most liked pictures, but those metrics belie the strain of the personal journey that took her to that point.
Honing in on this, she says in the video: “I know personally, for me, the body that you’ve 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 point of my life when I looked the way you consider my ‘healthy,’ that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
She adds: “I know I shouldn’t have to explain that. But I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here, something good might come from it. Healthy can look different.”
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And she’s absolutely 100% right. Ariana Grande has dared to put herself out there, dared to expose herself, and she should never have been put into this position. Far from being a safe space, social media more often amplifies society’s darker tendencies, and reinforces the often brutal treatment of young female artists. We’ve been here before – in the UK, Amy Winehouse was taken from us at an appallingly young age. As recently as four weeks ago, Selena Gomez posted eloquently about self-image, and the cruel nature of online dialogue.
Artists like Ariana Grande deserve our support, not our condemnation. In the aftermath of the posting, fans rushed to her aid, offering positive words. You wonder, though, how lasting this shift is. As eloquent, as heartfelt as her statement is, Ariana Grande’s words don’t feel like the full stop on this horrible debate. Perhaps it’s best to end by focussing on those words of positivity, and choose a quote from Marilyn Monroe: “Life’s a beautiful thing…”
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Words: Robin Murray