Ariana Grande Says Her Family ‘Always Offers Me Meatballs’ Even Though She’s Vegan: ‘They Don’t Want to Remember’

The pop star joined Sean Evans for the season finale of his hit YouTube series ‘Hot Ones’

Ariana Grande on Hot Ones. Photo: First We Feast/Youtube

Ariana Grande is opening up about the difficult parts of being vegan. 

The Grammy-winning artist is on the latest episode of the YouTube series Hot Ones. Although host Sean Evans ate vegan wings alongside Grande, she revealed that her family isn’t always as accommodating of her diet. 

Evans asked Grande whether she had discovered the “perfect Venn diagram” between her plant-based diet and her Sicilian-American family’s cooking. “No, it’s so funny because my family always forgets,” the Dangerous Woman singer replied, before quickly correcting herself: “I don’t think they forget; I think they don’t want to remember.” 

Grande also added that her grandmother is one of the people in her family who has the hardest time remembering that she doesn’t eat meat. “My nonna always offers me meatballs and I’m like ‘No, thank you, I’m still plant-based,’” the singer added in a sweet voice. 

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But Grande, whose seventh studio album Eternal Sunshine released on March 8, isn’t the only person in her family with a dietary restriction. Her brother Frankie Grande’s husband Hale Leon, who joined the family in 2022 after their wedding, is also plant-based, she said.

“I’m not alone, my brother-in-law Hale is vegan, so we have each other,” Grande said. 

“Trying to navigate those Sunday night dinners,” Evans added. 

The episode of Hot Ones, which is titled “Ariana Grande Hits a High Note While Eating Spicy Wings,” also featured some hilarious reactions from the “Break Free” artist as she worked her way through increasingly spicy hot wings. 

Ariana Grande on Hot Ones. First We Feast/Youtube

Grande ended up handling her spice pretty well — which was a surprise. At the beginning of the show, she told Evans that she wasn’t entering the interview with high expectations, and she noted later on that she brought bananas, Tums and popsicles for herself, just in case. 

“By the way, I’m not coming in proud or cocky or confident,” she told Evans. “I’m shriveling and weak and honest.”

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“You came prepared, you handled it,” Evans said after Grande ate the spiciest wing, seemingly unfazed. 

While Grande described a “fermented kimchi” sauce as having “romantic” notes, she admitted that she didn’t love most of the hot sauces she tried during the interview, including one that she called “disgusting.” When Evans noticed her making a face after eating one of the wings, Grande explained why. 

Ariana Grande as Glinda in WICKED. Universal Pictures

“My face changed because I think I’m learning that I don’t like hot sauce,” she jokingly replied. 

Grande will star as Glinda “the good witch” in a film adaptation of the musical Wicked set to release this November. She told Evans up about some of her favorite parts of making music, including working with her friend and producer Max Martin and her love for looping machines. 

“I’m such a nerd for musical production,” she said.