Cynthia Erivo Responds to People Claiming She and Ariana Grande Weren't 'Actually Friends'
Cynthia Erivo Responds to People Claiming She and Ariana Grande Weren't 'Actually Friends'
Jack SmartWed, May 27, 2026 at 8:05 PM UTC
0
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in November 2025
Credit: Darren Gerrish/WireImage
-
Cynthia Erivo spoke to Variety about life after leading the Wicked movies and starring in the West End's Dracula
She said that she and Wicked costar Ariana Grande text almost every day
“I think that people didn't really believe that we were actually friends,” said the British star
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande found a meaningful friendship thanks to Wicked.
In a new Variety feature, Erivo, 39, looked back at the years-long promotion campaign for Wicked (released in November 2024) and Wicked: For Good (November 2025), which had her and co-star Grande “holding on by threads," she said.
“I think that people didn't really believe that we were actually friends,” the Oscar nominee said of Grande, 32, telling the outlet that the two text almost every day. “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 duo “were really trying to take care of each other,” Erivo said, amid an intense rollout for Jon M. Chu's two movie adaptations of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's hit Broadway show. The Universal Pictures movies, starring the British actress as Elphaba (a.k.a. Oz's Wicked Witch of the West) and Grande as Glinda the Good Witch, rolled out constant press engagements for the two starting as far back as the 2024 Academy Awards.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in 'Wicked'
Credit: Universal Pictures
“It's very interesting, watching what people's perception is versus what the reality actually is,” added Erivo with a note of sarcasm, addressing rumors that her apparent closeness with Grande wasn't genuine. “Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why.”
Advertisement
Calling the Wicked fervor “its own storm in a teacup,” she said the movies “took over everything and — beautifully — changed my life.”
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in November 2025
Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
In Erivo's memoirSimply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They're Too Much, published last November, she recalled making “a pact” of mutual support with Grande before Wicked began filming. “We committed to protecting and caring for each other through this process,” she wrote. “We hear often how female costars — or really, any costars — 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.”
Erivo is now starring in a one-person production of Dracula, Kip Williams' West End adaptation of Bram Stoker's horror classic, playing the titular vampire and 22 other roles.
Among her upcoming screen projects are Children of Blood and Bone (in theaters Jan. 15, 2027), the Bill Condon-directed musical drama The Road Home and David Oyelowo's Othello.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
