Cynthia Erivo breaks silence on claim she and Ariana Grande aren’t actually friends
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo attend the “Wicked: Part One” European Premiere at The Royal Festival Hall on November 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
Cynthia Erivo has addressed the claim that she and her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande aren’t actually friends, after their close bond was scrutinised during the films’ press runs.
The duo regularly went viral during the promotion of the films, especially Wicked in 2024, due to their interactions with each other. The two stars were thrust into the spotlight together for years because of the back-t-back filming and then promotion of the film and its sequel Wicked: For Good.
Speaking to Variety, Erivo says that she and Grande were “holding on by threads” during that time period.
She continues: “I think that people didn’t really believe that we were actually friends. But that’s also because people don’t know me very well.
“If I’m a friend, then I’m a friend. If I’m not, then I’m not.”
Erivo says it’s “very interesting” seeing people dissect her and Grande’s relationship, knowing “what the reality actually is”.
She adds: “Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why”.
‘We committed to protecting and caring for each other’
The Dracula star says they made a “really conscious decision” to build their friendship early on, and still text regularly today.
She touched upon it in her November 2025 memoir, Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much, too.
Erivo wrote: “We committed to protecting and caring for each other through this process. We hear often how female co-stars – or really, any co-stars – can sometimes let their egos get in the way until they battle each other, destroying the creative process for everyone involved.
“We were determined to do the opposite.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
