{"id":491334,"date":"2026-02-20T01:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491334\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:12:07","slug":"leighton-meester-addresses-viral-exchange-with-ariana-grande-at-critics-choice-awards-2026-explains-what-really-happened-ariana-grande-leighton-meester-celebrity-news-and-gossip-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491334\/","title":{"rendered":"Leighton Meester Addresses Viral Exchange with Ariana Grande at Critics Choice Awards 2026, Explains What Really Happened | Ariana Grande, Leighton Meester | Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment, Photos and Videos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leighton Meester<\/a> is clearing the air on her viral exchange with Ariana Grande<\/a> at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.<\/p>\n

On the red carpet at the event last month, the two ladies crossed paths and Ariana could be heard saying, \u201cLove you so much. Wow, wow wow\u201d to Leighton <\/a>as she walked in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

The camera then panned to Leighton, who repeated Ariana\u2018s \u201cWow, wow, wow\u201d and then laughed.<\/p>\n

After some fans thought that Leighton was mocking Ariana, the Gossip Girl actress is now explaining what really happened.<\/p>\n

Keep reading to find out more\u2026\u201cI was with Kate [my publicist]. And [Ariana] said something to me,\u201d Leighton recalled on the new episode of Penn Badgley<\/a>\u2018s Podcrushed<\/a> podcast. \u201cAnd then Kate turns around, and we both heard that [Ariana said], \u2018Hi, I love you. Wah, wah, wah.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Leighton thought that Ariana was poking some fun at her for crying<\/a> over husband Adam Brody<\/a>\u2018s win at the awards show the year before, since she and her publicist were just talking about it before Ariana walked by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t hear her. She was, like, walking away. And I was like, \u2018Oh, she\u2019s kind of a comedy queen. She\u2019s just being funny.\u2019 Like, \u2018I love you. Wah, wah, wah.\u2019 Like, I thought that would be something she would do,\u201d Leighton explained. \u201cAnd so I was like, \u2018Oh, my God, that\u2019s cute and funny.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Leighton had misheard Ariana.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurns out she didn\u2019t say that. And then I saw her, like, the next week, and I was like, \u2018I have to tell you, like, I thought [you said that],\u2019\u201d Leighton recalled. \u201cAnd she\u2019s like, \u2018You thought I said wah, wah, wah? That\u2019s so funny.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No, it\u2019s an old person not being able to hear.\u2019 Like, that is so embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t see, a new Gossip Girl project was announced<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leighton Meester is clearing the air on her viral exchange with Ariana Grande at the 2026 Critics Choice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-491334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}