Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images, Retailer
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have famously gotten very close while filming Wicked – so close, apparently, that they’re not just finishing each others’ sentences but replicating them entirely. On Wednesday, a Wicked fan speaking to the Washington Post pointed out that Erivo’s new memoir included an uncredited quote from Grande, copied almost verbatim. The accusation came two weeks after the book, Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much, was published on November 18.
The passage is in Chapter 42, where Erivo writes about her struggles with body image. “I’ve been a specimen in a petri dish since I was a teenager. I’ve heard it all, every version of what’s wrong with me. And when I fix it, then it’s wrong for different reasons. Maybe you’ve felt the same?” the book says. Later on, it continues, “If you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, Oh, my god, you look skinnier, what’s wrong? Or someone else says, You look heavier, what happened? That is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening … This ease in making remarks is really dangerous for all parties involved.”
The Wicked fan, Cassie Plumridge, told the Post that she quickly recognized the words from an interview Erivo and Grande did with French content creator Sally in December 2024 during their first round of emotional Wicked press appearances, in which Grande spoke about pressure she feels around her looks. “I’ve been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” Grande said in the interview. “I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me, and then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons.” Grande said it can be “hard to protect yourself from that noise,” adding, “I think it’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on. Even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, Oh my god, you look skinnier, what happened? or, You look heavier, what happened? It’s like — that is something that is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening, no matter the scale it’s happening on. She added that these comments can be “dangerous for all parties involved.”
In a statement to The Cut that was also sent to the Post, a spokesperson for Flatiron Books, the Macmillan imprint that published Erivo’s memoir, said t had left out Grande’s name by mistake. “A chapter introduction, which included correct attribution, was inadvertently left out of the book,” the spokesperson said, adding that it “immediately updated the file to the corrected version, which will be used going forward in all formats including all future printings of the physical book.” Per the Post, the passage in question was written in a similar style to the rest of the book, and none of the other chapters have an introduction.
Like many celebrity memoirs, Erivo’s was written with the help of a ghostwriter, identified in the acknowledgments as Bernadette Murphy. Murphy, who includes Erivo’s testimonial on her website, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Cut.
As for Plumridge, the Wicked stan who first identified the uncredited quote? She remains loyal to the cause. She told the Post she’s seeing Wicked: For Good for the fifth time this weekend.
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