Ariana Grande on 'concerns' about her body: 'Be gentler'
Ariana Grande posted a TikTok video on Tuesday addressing “concerns” about her appearance and urging people to refrain from commenting on other people’s bodies.
The “Positions” singer shared the clip in response to social media users who have recently scrutinized her body, deeming her “sick,” “unhealthy” and underweight.
“I don’t do this often. I don’t like it. I’m not good at it,” Grande says in the video.
“But I just wanted to ... 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. ... 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 and well-intentioned, whatever it is — healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, not sexy — ... we should really work towards not doing that as much.”
In addition to remarking on her body, many have also circulated old photos of the “Dangerous Woman” artist when she was younger and argued that she looked healthier then than she does now. But Grande said Tuesday that those images actually represent the “unhealthiest version” of her 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. But that, in fact, wasn’t my healthy,” she added.
“I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability ... something good might come from it.”
The Grammy winner also reminded her followers that “there are different ways to look healthy and beautiful” and that “you never know what someone is going through.”
“There are ways to compliment someone or to ignore something that you see that you don’t like,” she added. “I think you’re beautiful no matter what you’re going through, no matter ... how you like to do your makeup these days, no matter what cosmetic procedures you’ve had or not ... I just think you’re beautiful and wanted to share some feelings.”
Earlier this week, Halle Berry also spoke out against body-shaming trolls after posting a photo of herself in the nude, sipping wine on a balcony.
In a now-deleted tweet quoted by E News, someone wrote, “Imagine being in your 50s, still posting nudes for attention in menopause when you should be chilling with the grandkids ... Aging with dignity is no longer a thing.”
Berry replied in another deleted tweet, “Did you guys know the heart of a shrimp is located in its head?”
The more you know.