![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e639412ea98074d1fc4e0c793f64c7f3b5fe276f.jpg\")
Camera IconThe theme of the Petal music video draws on similarities from Grande’s life. Credit: YouTube<\/p>\nEagle-eyed Ariana Grande fans have spotted a hidden message in her controversial Petal music video that references the pop star needing to lose weight.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old actress has been subject to intense commentary about her health after she appeared extremely thin in the music video for the title track of her eighth album.<\/p>\n
Following the release of the album and while Grande is in the middle of her Eternal Sunshine tour, a representative for Grande told People on Sunday local time that she will be \u201ctaking a step back from visibility\u201d.<\/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 read.<\/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
It comes as fans spotted a hard-to-see detail in one of the scenes of the music video, which sees Grande play a woman named Pepper who is hoping to make it big in Hollywood but is \u201cnot good enough\u201d according to male executives.<\/p>\n
During one audition, one of the men scribbles down a note about Grande\u2019s character needing to lose more weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoring on the eyes. A little homely. Couldn\u2019t hurt to lose a few lbs,\u201d the note read.<\/p>\n
Camera IconThe theme of the Petal music video draws on similarities from Grande’s life. Credit: YouTube<\/p>\n
While the visual is intended to mirror Grande\u2019s real-life experience with fame, fans have had their say about it in light of speculation around her health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just confirmed for me that she is not in fact okay,\u201d one fan said.<\/p>\n
Another said: \u201cWomen deserve so much better than having to be told this kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never want to be famous\u2026 and this is why,\u201d a third added.<\/p>\n
Another fan said: \u201cFame is one of the weirdest things. This video seems to be her honest story right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the video, Pepper returns several times as different versions of herself hoping to impress the judges in order to pursue a showbiz dream.<\/p>\n
She is labelled as having \u201cno sex appeal\u201d, \u201cdesperate\u201d and \u201cinauthentic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way you used to be, I miss that,\u201d one executive said, echoing the real-life critiques Grande has received from the public \u2014 and parts of her own fanbase \u2014 for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you got some personality disorder going on?\u201d<\/p>\n
At her Chicago concert on Monday night, Grande addressed her fans about her decision to step back, saying it was something she had planned \u201ca long time ago\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo basically the announcement that was made yesterday is not a reactive or impulsive thing \u2014 it\u2019s something I had decided to plan that I quietly made a long time ago and it\u2019s a decision made from a thoughtful and empowered place and I want you to know that many things can be true at the same time,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to share this because I heard that my fans were worried negativity was \u2018ruining things for me\u2019 but I just have to say that could not be [further from the truth].<\/p>\n
\u201cI promise you this is not what that is and I just want to be very, very clear multiple things can be true at the same time. Boundaries need to be set.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman beings can need a break sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fb70546b13de97ccf7ba9019a09cd62a8030b3f2.jpg\")
Camera IconThe release of a music video for Ariana Grande’s latest album led to speculation about her health. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n
Grande has spoken about her health and appearance in the past, saying that she has heard \u201cevery version of what\u2019s wrong with me\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in today\u2019s society, there is a comfortability that we shouldn\u2019t have at all \u2014 commenting on others\u2019 looks, appearance, what they think is going on behind the scenes or health or how they present themselves,\u201d she said in a 2024 interview.<\/p>\n
In a 2023 TikTok, Grande addressed concerns about her weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn\u2019t my healthy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I shouldn\u2019t have to explain that, but I do feel like having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here will [mean] something good might come from it. Healthy can look different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grande rose to fame in the early 2010s after starring as Cat Valentine in the hit Nickelodeon TV series Victorious.<\/p>\n
She solidified her popstar status with the 2013 release of her debut number-one album, Yours Truly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eagle-eyed Ariana Grande fans have spotted a hidden message in her controversial Petal music video that references the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,4794,1625,136],"class_list":["post-844138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-health-fitness","tag-lifestyle","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844138","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=844138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}