Ariana Grande Breaks Silence on Plans to Step Back From the Spotlight

Just a day earlier, the Grammy winner’s rep shared that Grande, whose recent appearances has led to public concern about her health, would be stepping away from the spotlight in the coming months. 

“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” Grande’s rep told E! News in a statement August 2. “She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”

And while the 41-stop tour, which ends in September, is a heavy lift for any artist, the “One Last Time” singer’s fans made every show worth it. 

“This tour has been a beautiful experience for her,” the statement added. “She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

And even with a physically demanding set, a source close to Grande told E! News that she “performs healthily and successfully at a very high level night after night.”

But music won’t be the only project she’s pressing pause on. Indeed, the team behind the upcoming West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George confirmed she’d be stepping away from the production, too.  

“We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support,” the team wrote on social media August 2. “We wish her nothing but the best.”

However, the musical—which would have seen Grande reunite with her Wicked costar Jonathan Bailey—will still open at London’s the Barbican in the summer of 2027, with the statement adding that “casting will be announced in due course.”

Just days before the 33-year-old announced her upcoming break, she released her eighth studio album Petal along with the music video for the project’s leading single.

While Grande’s appearance in the music video further fueled ongoing concerns about her well-being, the insider emphasized that her album “is a fight song, an anthem about the love-hate relationship with the public and their toxicity.”

Indeed, the “Eternal Sunshine” singer has been vocal about the challenges she’s faced while living her life in the spotlight.

“I’ve been doing this in front of the public, and kind of been a specimen in a petri-dish since I was 16 or 17,” the Nickelodeon alum said in a December 2024 interview with web series Oui Oui Baguette. “So, I have heard it all. I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me. And then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons.”

“It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise,” she continued at the time, “and I think it’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on.”

Read on to see her red carpet moments through the years.