Ariana Grande is a Grammy Award-winning pop star who also happens to have a bit of a controversial streak about her. She manages to make headlines all the time by saying inappropriate things, doing inappropriate things, and angering the rest of the music world. She’s been called a bit of a diva by some of her contemporaries.
That being said, she is one of the most popular recording artists in the world these days, and her fans absolutely adore her. She’s one of the leading music streaming pioneers in the world, having amassed over 40 billion streams on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and others. In fact, she’s the most-followed female on YouTube and Spotify.
She’s got a strong public image and makes bold fashion statements, but also has some skeletons in her closet that she’d rather keep in the past. Here are 20 things she wants us to forget about her past (but we won’t).
That She Forgot Her Own Lyrics
Ariana Grande has forgotten words to her own lyrics—and not just once. In fact, it’s happened so often that petty YouTubers have strung video segments together of her forgetting her own lyrics, and the videos are often over 5 minutes in length. At least you know she’s not lip-syncing, so that’s a plus, but come on, girl, get a handle on your songs!
That She’s A Bad Friend
Before she was known as a singer, she was known as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show Victorious and its spin-off, Sam & Cat. She became besties with co-star Jennette McCurdy, but that was not to last. During a ceremonial thanking of her co-stars, Grande chose to omit McCurdy from her long list of “thank yous.” And McCurdy even wrote a candid response to Ariana, saying, “We aren’t better friends because being friends with you takes the ‘better’ out of me” (via j-14.com). Ouch.
That She’s Terrible In Relationships
One of the most controversial aspects of Ariana Grande is that she’s cheated and/or dumped multiple boys for seemingly no reason. True, she doesn’t owe anyone anything, but she’s always been whimsical about her relationships. She wrote “Thank U, Next” about her highly publicized breakup with Pete Davidson, and she seems pretty angry about how many of her whirlwind romances ended, even though she was usually the one doing the ending.
That She’s A Food-Licker
Ariana made headlines (and not in a good way) back in 2015, when TMZ uncovered a video of the star licking a donut at a donut shop that was being presented on the counter, when the clerk had his back turned. She apologized on Ellen and other talk shows for her indecent act, but she lost many fans (and lots of respect) for this nasty incident.
That Time She Hated On America
Ariana Grande has been known to say some pretty outlandish, eyebrow-raising things, but then quickly backtrack and apologize for her outbursts. One memorable occasion of this was when she yelled at the donut server in the TMZ donut-licking video, and shouted, “What the f* is that? I hate Americans. I hate America.” She apologized on YouTube, saying that “we all say and do things that we don’t really mean at all sometimes,” but she lost a White House appearance because of her outburst. That She Was A Mean Kid Ariana has admitted on multiple occasions that she wasn’t a nice kid, and maybe that sense of entitlement is why she grew up to be such a diva. She told Billboard magazine that, “I’m literally the most sardonic person you’ve ever met.” During a Jaws-themed birthday when she was just five years old, she revealed that her dark side came out, and “all my friends left crying. I mean, I am still that way.” She also has said that her mom thought she might grow up to be a serial killer when she was just 3 or 4 (albeit jokingly). That She’s A Diva During Photo Shoots Most celebrities have diva moments, or are pretty demanding in their rider, asking for things that are truly head-scratching (like M&Ms with all the brown ones taken out). But Ariana takes it a step further, as she apparently demands that photos only be taken of the left side of her face, or her “good side.” She’s not the only girl who thinks she has a “best side,” but she’ll throw a tantrum if her wishes aren’t met, according to E! News presenter, Giuliana Rancic, who interviewed her. That She’s Almost Impossible To Work With Ariana has worked with some of the biggest names in music, but many times it’s a one-time deal—people don’t want to work with a diva after they find out you’re a diva. Photographer Chris Pavlich has said that she walked out of their photo session mid-shoot back in 2015 because she wasn’t pleased with the pictures and he wouldn’t delete them on the spot. Her management team then went to Pavlich and demanded that he delete every photo of her taken. That She’s Messed Up Live Performances Not only has Ariana forgotten her own lyrics on multiple occasions, but she’s also screwed up her own live performances in a myriad of ways: messing up her dance routines, slogging through her performance, or yelling profanity on-air (often with children present). Back at the Jingle Ball in 2015, she had microphone problems and then she threw shade at Selena Gomez’s lip-synced performance, saying, “At least you know I wasn’t singing to a track.” She also dropped a “st bomb” in the middle of a live performance on SNL.
That Time She Hated On Her Fans
No fan wants to be called out as needy or repugnant, especially when someone like Ariana Grande is so adored by her people. But, for someone who claims she loves her fans, she’s thrown some serious grief in their direction before. An insider once said that as soon as the doors shut when she entered an elevator, after a signing, she said, “I hope that all f***ing die.” She’s also made fans delete selfies of her if she doesn’t like the picture.
That Time She Refused To Help A Charity
The “ice bucket challenge” was a worldwide phenomenon that many celebrities got involved in, to help the ALS Association, which received over $41.8 million from 739,000 donors during the three months of the challenge. But one notable celebrity was missing from the donor list: Ariana Grande. According to MTV News she wouldn’t do it because “Her skin is a big problem for her… she absolutely doesn’t want to be seen barefaced.” She did make a donation to the ALS Association, though, which was the whole point of the gimmick.
That Her Life Coach Quit On Her
Isaac Calpito was not only Ariana Grande’s friend for many years, but she was also the star’s apparent “life coach,” helping her make life and business decisions. But it took a toll on Calpito, being Ariana’s coach, and an insider told Page Six that, “He just couldn’t take it anymore. Everything people are saying about her is true.” Ariana’s team struck back, saying that he was nothing more than a disgruntled employee spreading gossip.
That She’s Unprofessional
There’s nothing worse than an unprofessional diva who thinks everything should be handed to her on a silver platter. In 2014, during the (recently canceled) Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, she stepped in the way of runway model Elsa Hosk and was almost knocked off stage. Ariana went on to blame the model on Twitter, while others said she tried to steal the show.
That She Makes Unreasonable Demands
As if demanding photographers delete photos of you isn’t demanding and ridiculous enough, Ariana has done other things, such as made incredulous backstage demands to Nickelodeon during Victorious, when she asked for the largest dressing room of the cast. She wanted to be seen as more important than anyone else on the show—possibly even the leading actor—and it shows how far she’ll go to be overly petty.
That She Seems To Cheat On Everyone
No one likes a cheater. Well, except maybe Ariana’s fans, who will defend her despite breaking the hearts of practically every man she’s dated. She cheated on Jai Brooks with Nathan Sykes while recording a song with the latter, “Almost Is Never Enough.” She also cheated with Big Sean when he was engaged to Naya Rivera. There are rumors she cheated on Pete Davidson, too.
That She “Taylor Swifts” Her Exes
Taylor Swift has a pretty bad reputation for writing songs about seemingly every one of her failed romances, and Ariana Grande has boarded the same train. She posted the song “Thank U, Next” about Pete Davidson 30 minutes before he went on-air on Saturday Night Live. Luckily, Davidson was able to poke fun at himself during his segment, and he was seen as the much cooler head during their nasty breakup.
That She Throws Temper Tantrums
Given that she was a mean kid, a diva as an adult, and thinks everything is owed to her, it should come as no surprise that Ariana’s a fan of throwing temper tantrums. According to Page Six, she demands everything from her team, and when she doesn’t get it, she goes into a rage. “It makes Ariana seem like a toddler throwing a tantrum and her parents handling the dirty work for her,” an insider told the magazine
That She’s A Homewrecker
As previously mentioned, she’s a big cheat and doesn’t seem to care about hurting other women’s feelings, either. She wants what she wants, and she usually gets it. Case in point: Big Sean. She wanted the rapper, even though he was engaged to Naya Rivera. Rivera wrote a tell-all book that included information on the scandal. Even though this was as much Big Sean’s fault as Ariana’s, she should have never gone after a claimed man. There are rumors that breaking up with Mac Miller also caused him to spiral down in a hurry.
That She Can Be Disrespectful
Back in 2011, the lead singer for The Cab, Alexander DeLeon, made a critical analysis of Ariana Grande on Twitter to his fans, saying, “Hope none of my fans ever have the displeasure of meeting Ariana Grande. Most stuck up, disrespectful person I’ve ever met in this industry.” He didn’t specify what angered him so badly, but it’s hard to think that he’s just making it up after all we’ve listed here…
That She Can Be A No-Show
The worse type of celebrities are no-shows, and almost anyone who’s a diva has gotten called out for it: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and now Ariana Grande. She once no-showed a scheduled performance on The Jonathan Ross Show, back in 2015. The UK-based program was given no explanation or apology for not showing up for her performance.