Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are nearing the end of the yellow brick road, having lived and breathed their roles as Glinda and Elphaba since they were cast in 2021.
Much like their on-screen characters, their relationship has been one of the greatest platonic love stories to come from a movie.
‘That feels so strange because it’s like I’ve known her forever. I don’t think people realise that’s not a natural occurrence on a film set,’ Cynthia told AnOther’s spring/summer issue while discussing their special bond.
‘It doesn’t happen very often. Yes, you make friends on a film, and acquaintances, you get close to people, but this, this kind of connection, doesn’t happen often.’
Despite standing at the height of their careers, the journey to reaching their ‘dream roles’ was anything but smooth.
Both women have endured pressure, heartbreak, and personal battles on the road to Oz. Here, the Daily Mail takes a look at how those struggles formed a powerful bond between the two witches of Wicked.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are nearing the end of the yellow brick road, having lived and breathed their roles as Glinda and Elphaba for the past five years
Much like their on-screen roles, their relationship has been one of the greatest platonic love stories to come from a movie (pictured in Wicked)
Manchester bombing
A little over eight years ago, Ariana was swarmed by security and rushed from Manchester Arena after a terrorist bombing.
The suicide bomb attack perpetrated by Salman Abedi, 22, occurred on May 22, 2017 and resulted in the deaths of 22 victims while 139 people were injured.
Many of the victims, who had come to see the star sing, were children.
Following the horrific bombing, Ariana ‘wanted to quit everything and become a hermit’, our insider said at the time.
The star then returned to Manchester to headline the One Love gig in June 2017.
She made the brave decision to return to the city for the benefit concert, which raised more than £17 million, and saw the entire audience that attended her previous show in attendance.
The concert saw all manner of stars take to the stage at the Old Trafford cricket ground, including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, Justin Bieber and Robbie Williams.
A little over eight years ago, Ariana was swarmed by security and rushed from Manchester Arena after a terrorist bombing (pictured 2018)
The suicide bomb attack perpetrated by Salman Abedi, 22, occurred on May 22, 2017 and resulted in the deaths of 22 victims while 139 people were injured
Following the horrific bombing, Ariana ‘wanted to quit everything and become a hermit’, our insider said at the time (pictured at the benefit concert event)
In a 2018 interview with British Vogue, Ariana revealed she had been experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss,’ she said.
‘I know those families and my fans, and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well. Time is the biggest thing.’
The following year, she shared photos of her brain scans that appear to show signs of PTSD.
The singer posted the images on her Instagram story, writing: ‘hilarious and terrifying.’
She also shared examples of a ‘healthy’ brain and brain ‘with PTSD’, both of which appeared far more mild than her own.
Mac Miller’s death
Following the Manchester bombing, Ariana faced another heartache with the death of her ex Mac Miller (pictured in 2018)
Following the Manchester bombing, Ariana faced another heartache with the death of her ex Mac Miller.
Ariana and the Pittsburgh-raised rap artist dated from September 2016 until May 2018.
When they broke up, Ariana began dating comedian Pete Davidson shortly after and the twosome quickly became engaged.
Mac, born Malcolm James McCormick, died suddenly later that year on September 7 after an accidental drug overdose, aged 26.
Pete and Ariana called it quits the following month, ending their high-profile engagement as Ariana mourned.
The former Nickelodeon sensation later poured her heart into her album Thank U, Next, which addressed both relationships.
At the time she told Vogue, ‘My friends know how much solace music brings me, so I think it was an all-around, let’s-get-her-there type situation.
‘But if I’m completely honest, I don’t remember those months of my life because I was (a) so drunk and (b) so sad.’
The entertainer openly added, ‘I don’t really remember how it started or how it finished, or how all of a sudden there were 10 songs on the board.’
Fall out with father
Ariana experienced a falling out with her father Ed Butera in 2013 and has remained tight-lipped about details surrounding the rift
Ariana experienced a falling out with her father Ed Butera in 2013 and has remained tight-lipped about details surrounding the rift.
However, she briefly shed light on the situation during an interview with Seventeen back in 2014.
‘Falling out of touch with my dad,’ she said of the hardest thing she’s dealt with. ‘It’s private, but it happened last year. It took me so long to be okay with it.
‘The thing that got me there was embracing the fact that that I am made up of half my dad, and a lot of my traits come from him.
‘So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn’t like that about myself. I had to accept that it’s okay not to get along with somebody and still love them.
They have since mended their ways, with him starring in her Brighter Days Ahead short film.
Nickelodeon’s ‘toxic environment’
The docuseries Quiet On Set unveiled numerous allegations of inappropriate conduct on Nickelodeon shows (Ariana and Nickelodeon show creator Dan Schneider pictured)
The docuseries Quiet On Set unveiled numerous allegations of inappropriate conduct on Nickelodeon shows.
It also shed light on disturbing scenes that ‘sexualised’ young stars, including those from Ariana’s own sitcoms, Sam & Cat and Victorious.
Speaking about her shock at the sexual innuendos in her Nickelodeon scripts, the singer told Vanity Fair: ‘You don’t remember some of it, and then it’s thrown into this compilation in this thing, and you’re like, ‘Wait, that happened? I can’t believe that!’
‘The most important thing we can do is focus on making the working environment safer for all performers and artists—even musicians,’ she continued.
Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV levied several allegations against dialogue coach and convicted sex offender Brian Peck and Nickelodeon show creator Dan Schneider – who worked with Ariana – leaving the television industry shaken.
Among the ‘disturbing’ scenes that ‘sexualised’ child stars – including Ariana who featured in scenes sticking her hand down her throat, putting her toes in her mouth, and talking about being ‘soaking wet’ at the age of 16
The star previously spoke out about the series on Penn Badgley’s podcast Podcrushed.
‘A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age, but also dealing with some of the things that the survivors who have come forward…there’s not a word for how devastating that is to hear,’ she began.
‘I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists, I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they want to be.
She added that parents should be permitted everywhere, ‘not only on kids sets.’
Cynthia
Father walked out
Cynthia was just 16 years old when her father walked out of her life (pictured with her mother)
Cynthia was just 16 years old when her father walked out of her life.
Discussing their final exchange, Erivo – unveiled as the latest GQ Men Of The Year cover star – recalled: ”This will be the last time I ever see you,’ he said. Just like that.
‘I just didn’t see it coming. I guess you wouldn’t, would you?’
The actress subsequently lost all contact with her biological father and admits she knows nothing about his life, vocation, relationships or religious leanings.
Nor does she have a contact number, but Erivo admits she’s reminded of him whenever she looks in a mirror or sees a picture of herself, because they share the same facial features – notably a distinctive gap between their two front teeth.
‘It’s a supreme joke,’ she told GQ. ‘It’s a joke from the universe to remind me how human I am.
‘I used to hear him all the time – he had a lovely voice. And so I think that’s where my voice comes from, which is so annoying and crazy, but… fine. It is what it is.
‘It’s what the universe does. This is the lemon. Make lemonade.’
Fears of coming out as queer
Cynthia first came out back in May 2022 during an interview with British Vogue, and has since said she’s ‘really proud’ of the way she shared it
Cynthia first came out back in May 2022 during an interview with British Vogue, and has since said she’s ‘really proud’ of the way she shared it.
However, she once revealed she felt ‘trepidation’ about coming out as she shared rare insight into her sexuality in a new interview.
The Wicked star said on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast that she feared she would ‘offend people’ when she decided to share that she was bisexual, but she now feels ‘very, very in her skin and in her body.’
She said: ‘I feel very powerful. I feel very, very in my skin, in my body. And I love it. And I think the thing that has been really heartening is watching other young people go, ”oh my gosh, She’s like me. She gets it.”
‘There’s something really wonderful about watching someone who is just living, enjoying her life, working, creating, and just being. I think that that’s something that I don’t take for granted at all, but I do think it’s important for other young queer people who just are trying to find their way to themselves to see.
‘It’s been a really interesting journey also, because sometimes you approach it with a fair amount of trepidation like, ”Are people going to be okay with me? How are people going to be, if I say the word queer, are people going to be offended?”
‘It takes a long time to get to a place like that. It also takes determination to get there. My life has not been perfect, let’s put it that way.
‘I’ve had any number of big giant knocks and big rejections and serious hurts and all of that.
‘But if you’re willing to allow those things to grow you instead of shrink you it sort of keeps revealing different pages of who you are and those things come away.
‘And if you don’t allow the words that people say sometimes stick and it takes time to let them come off you, when you do, you realise that most of those words are just reflections of themselves, of other people.
‘And once you take off all of the stuff that other people put on you, you show up.
‘And hopefully you get to a place where you find yourself feeling comfortable enough to take that version of who you see into every room you walk into.
‘You feel even more confident when you take that version of who you are into a room that you walk into, let them stay there. Don’t change them. Don’t shift.
‘Don’t bend. Just be. I’ve learned to really enjoy being and like watching people just accept it.’
Cynthia previously said feeling like an outsider and ‘not fitting in’ drew her to the role of Elphaba in Wicked
Cynthia previously said feeling like an outsider and ‘not fitting in’ drew her to the role of Elphaba in Wicked.
Appearing on the US chat show The View last year, she said: ‘I think I’m a bit of an odd one out often.
‘I walk into the room, and especially in this particular field of work, I’m different,’ she said.
‘There aren’t many who look like me. I stick out, I’m an odd one out.’ Erivo said being different means that ‘the space isn’t always there for you’, explaining that it has ‘taken a lot to get here’.
‘I hope that people see Elphaba and understand if they feel different, and if they feel like they’re on the outside, that that only makes them more special,’ she added.
Cynthia Erivo recalls the heartbreaking moment her father told her he never wanted to see her again
Earlier this year, Cynthia opened up on her Wicked experience and how she feels Elphaba is a representation of black and queer people because of her ‘otherness’.
The actress said the film opened up conversation about racism and queerness, as she discussed the blockbuster in AnOther’s spring/summer issue.
Discussing what it was like to play someone so outcast by society, Cynthia said: ‘It’s a green witch. But I think what they see also is so many parts of me.
‘There’s a deep understanding of what it feels like when you don’t fit, what it feels like to constantly want to be accepted and not be accepted…
‘What it feels like to know what your responsibility is and to have to be brave enough to take it, what it feels like to feel like you have more to offer but nobody believes that you have that in you.’
She continued: ‘The green skin is like the umbrella under which the “other” lives. So yes, it’s a conversation about racism, but it’s also a conversation about anyone who’s been othered. It’s a conversation about queerness.
‘The green sets Elphaba apart from everybody else. She is the ultimate other. And I think there’s this added responsibility because I’m a black woman underneath that green, so we can also really have the conversation about what it’s like to be a black woman when nobody wants you there.’
