![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/8c115ae7ce966009121f78346f9081b2fa2155d8db17a27ec86aa7bafbd296bf.png\")
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August 3, 2026 \u2014 9:09am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Ariana Grande has dropped out of her debut role in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George due to \u201congoing public scrutiny\u201d amid growing concerns about her weight loss.<\/p>\n Reps for the Wicked star told People on Monday morning<\/a> (AEST) that the three-time Grammy Award winner \u201cwill be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine tour\u201d, in support of Grande\u2019s 2024 album of the same name.<\/p>\n \u201cShe looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Grande was set to perform opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey in Sunday in the Park with George, which was slated to run in June next year.<\/p>\n Before the announcement, fans and commentators expressed concerns about Grande\u2019s wellbeing online after a new music video for her latest song, Petal, shows her appearing extremely thin.<\/p>\n In the music video, a casting director character is seen making notes about Grande\u2019s audition, writing \u201cit couldn\u2019t hurt to lose a little\u201d.<\/p>\n British actor and comedian Jameela Jamil<\/a> was among those who expressed concern about Grande, stating \u201cthis poor woman is possibly dying right in front of us\u201d, and arguing that the pop star\u2019s team was responsible for the image being pushed to younger audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis outfit is designed to accentuate the thinness for discourse. Her team are thoroughly irresponsible for not guiding her away from this deeply damaging image for her young fans to see so glamorised,\u201d Jamil commented beneath one of Grande\u2019s Instagram posts promoting the music video.<\/p>\n Jamil later took to her Instagram story to explain that, while uncomfortable, conversations about Grande\u2019s weight should take place amid the broader context of celebrity thinness culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shrinking pop star situation is something of a trolley problem,\u201d Jamil said. \u201cIf we comment on [Grande\u2019s] body, we could harm her mental health, which would be awful and nobody wants that. If we don\u2019t comment on her body, we run the risk of normalising that image to hundreds of millions of teenage girls, kids and even impressionable adults, consuming her content.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cContent which is pointedly accentuating her bones and tiny frame with belts and corsets. I think it\u2019s worth considering that the pop star in question has access to a lot of mental health care and the best facilities on the planet, whereas the fans watching largely don\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cMany have no support system equipped to handle the deadly clutches of anorexia. Her most recent images are flooding pro-anorexia websites, and teenage girls are saying \u2018goals\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, model and author Charli Howard also took to Instagram to share her discomfort with Grande\u2019s music video, saying that even as an activist for body positivity it\u2019s been an ongoing battle to accept her own recent weight gain.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s vital we discuss imagery\/videos\/content like these and the damage they can \u2013 and will \u2013 have on women and girls. WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS NOT NORMAL,\u201d Howard wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past few weeks, as images of Ariana\u2019s concert get plastered around online, I obviously see comments from worried fans, but I also see other people convincing others that she looks \u2018healthy\u2019, or that she has simply \u2018lost puppy fat\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is absolutely appalling, from both a moral and capitalistic standpoint, to have released these videos and an album when this person needs psychiatric help and hospitalisation.<\/p>\n \u201cI truly, truly hope she gets the help that she so desperately needs. We do not need a repeat of the early 2000s.\u201d<\/p>\n Grande\u2019s latest album, Petal, was released on July 31.<\/p>\n Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4b420ea9d9a220edef9cc4fa7f8e98cc8d43c6ef.jpeg\")
A screen shot from the video clip for Ariana Grande\u2019s song Petal.YouTube<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15c6fcadb653cc4ad218d2dae146e9f290a4db933a7a3e4e6387874b0fba64c2.jpeg\")
A screenshot of Ariana Grande\u2019s Petal music video, where a casting director character notes it \u201ccouldn\u2019t hurt to lose a little\u201d about Grande\u2019s audition.YouTube<\/p>\n![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/8c115ae7ce966009121f78346f9081b2fa2155d8db17a27ec86aa7bafbd296bf.png\")
Kayla Olaya<\/a> is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 3, 2026 \u2014 9:09am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-841027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841027","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=841027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}