Ariana Grande fights back tears as she speaks out on changing her name ahead of Wicked release
Topics: Ariana Grande, TV And Film, Music, TikTok
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@entertainmenttonight
Topics: Ariana Grande, TV And Film, Music, TikTok
Ariana Grande got teary-eyed once again during her Wicked press tour as she opened up about her recent name change and what it means to her.
You might know the singer as 'Ariana Grande', but there’s actually a different name that she used to have.
Since taking on role of Glinda in highly-anticipated musical movie, Grande admitted she reconnected with her younger self.
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In a video posted to TikTok by Entertainment Tonight, the star could be seen getting visibly upset when asked about the way her name appears in the credits.
If you go and watch the film, you’ll see that Grande's name appears as 'Ariana Grande-Butera', which takes both of the surnames of her mother, Joan Grande, and her dad, Edward Butera.
The interviewer said that she ‘caught the credits’ and noticed her name change and asked what her dad’s reaction to it was.
That’s when the singer began to respond, but immediately started to well up.
Her co-star, Cynthia Erivo immediately comforted her as she held back tears, saying: "Oh man... he cried.
"He cried and, you know, that was my name when I first saw Wicked and I do feel, not to sound like a broken record, but I do feel like this role and this project helped me sort of come home to little Ari. Maybe little pieces of her got lost along the way..."
Grande then shared that the decision to include her father's last name on the credits happened 'so randomly'.
She explained: "And my dad cried, I surprised him, [director] Jon [M. Chu] was so generous - he sent me the credits because he knew that people were going to start seeing it soon and he was scared someone was going to talk about it before [my dad] got to see it.
"So I pulled it up on my laptop and I recorded him secretly.... it was a big surprise and he cried, it was very emotional."
Fans in the comments were immediately touched by the heartfelt story, and shared how it appears the singer is being ‘healed’ through the musical film.
One person wrote: “Glinda healed Ari.”
Another said: “I think Ariana grande has gone through so much and wicked changed her for good.”
Someone else commented: “i don’t think yall understand how much doing this movie HEALED her, and cynthia. that’s why they keep crying, happily!!!! they deserve to feel these big emotions that fulfill them.”
As so many people have previously commented about the pair constantly crying during their interviews, as well as a few people commenting under Grande’s ET clip, Erivo has addressed why.
The British actress talked to Heart Radio with Amanda Holden, when the presenter said: "This movie should be sponsored by Kleenex!
"Every interview I’ve read, Cynthia, of you and Ariana, it just says that you end up in tears all the time."
To which Erivo explained: "And I think it’s because people have come in with such energy and their emotional responses come into the room with us."
She added: "It’s the first time we’ve been able to talk about it, so we’re both reliving and rehashing all the things we’ve been through and the journey we’ve been on.
"We can’t help it! We get very emotional about it."
Weeks prior, it was Cynthia who left potential Wicked viewers perplexed after publicly slamming a die-hard fan for whipping up a computer-generated poster in the film's honour.
Not only did the Broadway star brand the artwork the 'most offensive thing' she'd ever seen, but she re-edited the poster herself, with many spectators accusing her of blowing the fan-made image out of proportion.