Ariana Grande pulls out of Barbican production and plans break from public life

Citing “endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” the 33-year-old’s team told People that Grande “will be taking a step back from visibility” once the tour wraps. The decision comes days after the release of her album Petal, which arrived on Friday (31 July) alongside a music video that explicitly dramatises the toll of body-shaming. In the clip, Grande plays a performer who is told in auditions that she is “not good enough,” “desperate,” and, on a briefly shown scrap of paper, that she “couldn’t hurt to lose a few pounds”. The character eventually takes a chainsaw to her detractors.

Grande was set to star opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey in Empire Street Productions’ staging of Stephen Sondheim’s Pulitzer Prize–winning musical. A statement from the company confirmed that the show will still open in summer 2027 as planned, with Grande’s role to be recast. “We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support,” the statement read. “We wish her nothing but the best.”

The pop singer’s physical appearance has been a persistent focus of online speculation, something the Petal video appears to confront head-on. Her representative pushed back on health-related chatter, telling People: “She performs a very physical show, and there is a lot of athleticism involved. She performs healthily and successfully at a very high level night after night.” The same source added that Grande intends to finish the tour “on a high note, both healthily and happily.”

The Eternal Sunshine tour, which continues in Chicago tonight (3 August) with three nights at the United Center, will land at the O2 for a ten-date run from 15 August. Fans responded to the announcement with a wave of support, pushing the hashtag #weloveyouariana into trending topics.