Ariana Grande’s conversation with Nicole Kidman peeled back the curtain on something often obscured by the spotlight’s glare: the emotional cost of early fame and what it takes to rebuild a relationship with your own artistry after it’s been strained by pressure, scrutiny, and trauma.
Though she has long embodied the polished professionalism of a chart-topping performer, Grande’s reflections show that her journey back to music has been far more personal than public.
Their exchange began with a simple reference to Grande’s upcoming tour, but it quickly shifted into a deeper exploration of how fame can reshape someone’s entire internal landscape. Grande described taking deliberate steps to reconnect with the joy of making music—steps that were neither easy nor guaranteed to work.
She explained that Eternal Sunshine marked a turning point, a project that allowed her to separate the craft she loves from the burdens that fame had layered onto it.
“I spent a lot of time redoing my system,” she said, noting that with time and distance, she could set apart the pressures and expectations that once overshadowed her creativity. Those feelings, she said, “held some traumas for me before,” but she now senses them fading. The relief in her words suggests a shift—an artist learning to reclaim something she feared she’d lost.
Part of that process, she explained, came from stepping away and immersing herself in acting. Her experience playing Glinda provided strength, perspective, and a renewed sense of emotional grounding. Those were the conditions she needed before she could consider touring again, and her gratitude for that healing was unmistakable.
Kidman listened with the knowing recognition of someone who had been placed under similar scrutiny long before she was ready for it. She described the “fishbowl” effect—every move dissected, every emotion magnified, every misstep preserved indefinitely.
It’s a cycle that can shrink a person’s world until stepping outside feels dangerous. Her empathy came not from theory but from lived experience.
Grande’s reflections also carried the weight of an event that reshaped her life and career far beyond typical celebrity pressures: the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. Twenty-two people were killed, and more than a thousand were injured. Even years later, that night remains inseparable from any discussion about her relationship to touring. It is not simply an incident; it is an imprint.
