Cynthia Erivo has shut down rumours that her friendship with Ariana Grande was nothing more than a carefully managed publicity exercise, and made clear the two are very much still close.
Speaking to Variety in an interview published on 27 May, Erivo, 39, addressed speculation that the bond the pair visibly formed during their Wicked press tour in late 2024 was performed rather than genuine.
Her response was characteristically direct.
“I think that people didn’t really believe that we were actually friends,” she said. “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.”
The friendship, she confirmed, has continued well beyond the end of their promotional duties.
Despite the Wicked franchise having wrapped with last year’s Wicked: For Good, she and Grande still exchange text messages almost every day.
“It’s very interesting, watching what people’s perception is versus what the reality actually is,” Erivo said.
“Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why.”
One moment in particular stands out for Erivo as proof of what their friendship is really built on.
At the Singapore premiere of the Jon Chu-directed sequel, a man rushed the red carpet and approached Grande. Erivo stepped in immediately.
“I moved because my brain went, ‘Get him away! Get him out of here!'” she recounted, describing the incident as “terrifying.”
“My immediate reaction was ‘Get him away from us.’ And what people couldn’t see is that he wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go. So I just kept pushing at him to get him off.”
Some observers felt she overreacted. She disagrees.
“A stranger is a stranger. Personal space is still personal space. It doesn’t belong to anyone, even if you feel you know the person.”
Grande has been equally clear about the depth of the connection.
Speaking to NPR in 2025, she described a conscious decision made at the very beginning of their time together.
“It was important to us from the very beginning to build something real and to know that we could have a safe space in each other for this journey because it was going to be tremendous.”
The two also share matching tattoos, perhaps the most unambiguous signal of all that this is not a friendship built for the cameras.
