In a new video on TikTok, Ariana Grande addressed comments about her body that have been popping up all over social media. “I just wanted to address your concerns about my body” the singer began.
She went on to say that she was taking antidepressants and drinking which was negatively impacting her health. “The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly,” she explained. Ariana said that she was “at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
She went on, “I know I shouldn’t have to explain that. But I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here, good might come from it.”
The point she makes throughout is that she shouldn’t have to address anything because no one should be commenting on other people’s bodies because, “you never know what someone is going through.” She went on, “So even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with. Be gentle with each other and with yourselves.”
Her fans immediately jumped into support her – echoing the idea that body talk can be harmful, even if you mean well.
Ariana has used her platform to talk about mental health in the past. In 2018, she talked about her PTSD diagnosis following the Manchester City bombing. “It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss. But, yeah, it’s a real thing,” Ariana told British Vogue at the time. “I know those families and my fans and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well.”Time is the biggest thing. I feel like I shouldn’t even be talking about my own experience — like I shouldn’t even say anything. I don’t think I’ll ever know how to talk about it and not cry.”