Ariana Grande is in full Oscars campaign mode. Given her wild wicker basket dress at the Critics Choice Awards this weekend, it looks like she’s having just as much fun as she did during that bonkers Wicked press tour. Ari was on a recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. During her appearance, she talked about mental health. Speaking from experience, Ari said that because dealing with fame from a young age can be extremely difficult, studios and record labels should be providing their talent with therapy sessions.
Ariana Grande is advocating for therapy for young stars in both the acting and music worlds, saying that weekly appointments should be built into their contracts.
The Oscar-nominated actor and Grammy-winning pop star — who got her start on Broadway and the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” — opened up to Marc Maron on his “WTF” podcast about having to deal with fame at such a young age, particularly with the media scrutinizing her personal life and body.
“I was 19 when all of that nonsense started happening to me, and it’s just a crazy piece of the puzzle,” she said. “It’s something you work so hard to try and understand, and it will never make sense to me. I just love art and that’s all I care about, so it’s just weird that that’s a part of it … It started when I was so young with my body or rumors about my relationships or about my team or about my mom or about people I love. There was just no limit.”
Grande said the situation was “impossible to navigate,” and that’s why she chooses to speak up about the topic whenever she gets the chance. She’s particularly passionate about therapy, and told Maron she thinks it should be built into the contract of every young star.
“It’s so important that these record labels, these studios, these TV studios, these big production companies make it a part of the contract when you sign on to do something that’s going to change your life in that way, on that scale,” Grande said. “You need a therapist to be seeing several times a week.”
She continued that because the big studios and labels “know how your life is going to change” and have seen how fame can “impact people in a negative way,” they “should be responsible for protecting you from that.”
“When these people are cast in these life-changing roles, or when they get that record deal, when they get that moment, that should be non-negotiable in the contract,” Grande said. “Because to be an artist, you are a vulnerable person with your heart on your sleeve … So the same person who is meant to do art is the exact same person who is not meant to deal with that shit.”
Grande added about her own therapist: “I love her so much. We do great work!”
The star has spoken up about these issues before, telling Penn Badgley’s “Podcrushed” podcast in June that she was “reprocessing” her time on “Victorious.” Though neither Badgley nor Grande specifically mentioned it, the episode aired just a few months after the release of Investigation Discovery’s “Quiet on Set,” which included misconduct allegations against “Victorious” creator Dan Schneider. He has denied the allegations and is pursuing a defamation suit over the documentary.
“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through being a performer at that level at such a young age,” Grande told “Podcrushed.” “The environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around and like I said, I’m still in real time reprocessing my relationship to it.”
Preach, Ari. I think this is a great idea. Several former child stars have strongly advocated for mental health support and increased protections for stars, including Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and Ariana’s former Sam & Cat costar, Jenette McCurdy. Labels and studios *should* provide easily accessible mental health support for their talent. Executives and publicists do know how much life is going to change for the actors and artists that hit it big. It’s also difficult for the talent that has a flop or receives a lot of negative reviews. And, of course, there’s the overall trauma of dealing with sketchy, sh-tty people in the biz. I think “impossible to navigate” is a good way to describe it. Hopefully, this topic will reignite now with even more eyes and ears hearing it and lead to some form of meaningful change.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon