“I’m very lucky I have such a close relationship with my cast,” the ‘Dynasty’ actress said, shouting out the ‘Thank U, Next’ singer
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Elizabeth Gillies Ariana Grande. Photo: Ariana Grande/Instagram
- Elizabeth Gillies revealed that she “reevaluated” her experience on the Nickelodeon show Victorious with her former costar Ariana Grande after watching the docuseries Quiet on Set
- The actress said she and Grande “leaned on each other” as they “thoughtfully” reflected on their experiences on the show
- Gillies also discussed measures that could potentially protect child actors on set
Elizabeth Gillies and Ariana Grande revisited their child acting past after the bombshell docuseries Quiet on Set was released earlier this year.
In an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, July 16, Gillies, 30, revealed that she “reevaluated” her experience on the Nickelodeon show Victorious with her former costar Grande, 31, following the release of the hit docuseries.
“I certainly reevaluated my experience with Ariana over FaceTime,” she told the outlet. “We watched it together, and then we got together later that week or the next week, and we sort of broke the whole thing down and talked about it, and reprocessed everything together.”
Gillies added: “There was a lot to go through.”
The Dynasty star continued, “It’s tricky when you look back on something incredibly positively, and then you learn a lot of information and also revisit things as an adult through a new lens that reframe the memories in your mind a little bit, or cloud them, or taint them — maybe rightfully so.”
Gillies said it was important for them to “thoughtfully” reflect on their experiences on the show, which ran for four seasons from 2010 to 2013.
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Liz Gillies and Ariana Grande in Victorious. Nickelodeon
“I’m very lucky I have such a close relationship with my cast — and with Ari — and that we were all able to do that together, because we definitely leaned on each other, talked amongst each other and checked in with each other,” she shared.
Several members of the cast have spoken about their experience on the show in the last few years.
In 2023, alum Avan Jogia told Teen Vogue, “I don’t look back on [Nickelodeon] fondly,” while Daniella Monet said there were moments every “once in a while” that made her feel uncomfortable in a 2022 interview with Insider, citing scenes where she felt “sexualized.”
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The docuseries Quiet on Set premiered with two episodes on Mar. 17 on Max and Discovery+. The show, which had a total of five episodes, gave a behind-the-scenes look at popular children shows from the 1990s to the 2000s, particularly the ones by Dan Schnieder, who was the showrunner for Victorious, Zoey 101 and iCarly.
The docuseries showcased several disturbing allegations, including former child star Drake Bell speaking out about being sexually assaulted by a Nickelodeon dialogue coach. Two female writers of The Amanda Show also accused Schnieder of sexist and inappropriate behavior on set along with additional claims that the showrunner sexualized minors in his shows.
Following the release, Schnieder filed a defamation lawsuit against the documentary series producers, alleging that Quiet on Set created a false impression of him a “manipulative mix of editing, speech, and imagery.”
“Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself,” the filing stated.
In the interview, Gillies talked about measures that could protect child actors on set. First, she said, “I think parents should be allowed to be wherever they want to be, whenever they want to be.” The actress further stated that parents need to “listen to your kid.”
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Elizabeth Gillies. Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images
Emma Roberts Says Quiet on Set Docuseries ‘Really Kept Me Up at Night’ and Made Her ‘Really Sad’
She continued, “I almost wonder if a psychiatrist or a psychologist should evaluate the child and speak to the parents before they sign them off to let them be on a set or a show, just because it’s such a huge undertaking, and children don’t often know what a huge undertaking it is, and then they can feel trapped or pressured.”
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Though, she clarified that being an actor is “all I wanted, and all I wanted to to do was go there every day and put my head down and work. I cannot imagine what it must feel like for a child that was pushed there by their parents and had no interest in acting and had to come to work and do that grueling job every single day because for me, it was a treat.’
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
