Ariana Grande is Vogue’s August cover star and the interview is one of her most candid.
The 26-year-old pop star tearfully opened up to reporter Rob Haskell about several recent tragedies in her life — from the deadly terrorist attack at her Manchester concert and the fatal overdose of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, to her heavily publicised break-up from ‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian Pete Davidson.
Revisiting her relationship with Miller, who died in an accidental overdose in 2018, Grande called it “all-consuming”. According to the interview, she had to frequently check in to make sure the beloved rapper wasn’t on a bender.
“By no means was what we had perfect, but, like, [expletive]. He was the best person ever, and he didn’t deserve the demons he had. I was the glue for such a long time, and I found myself becoming . . . less and less sticky. The pieces just started to float away,” said Grande.
The 26-year-old singer had previously spoken out about her tumultuous relationship with Miller. After receiving flak from several of his fans, Grande tweeted: “shaming and blaming a woman for a man’s inability to keep his [expletive] together is a very major problem.”
Elaborating now, Grande said: “They didn’t see the years of work and fighting and trying, or the love and exhaustion. That tweet came from a place of complete defeat, and you have no idea how many times I warned him that that would happen and fought that fight, for how many years of our friendship, of our relationship. You have no idea so you’re not allowed to pull that card, because you don’t [expletive] know.”
‘I DIDN’T KNOW HIM’
Grande also spoke about her short-lived engagement to ‘SNL’ comedian Pete Davidson. Their whirlwind relationship began briefly after her break-up from Miller.
“I met Pete, and it was an amazing distraction. It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him, and I didn’t know him,” said Grande.
I met Pete, and it was an amazing distraction. It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him, and I didn’t know him.
After they split, Grande released the album ‘Thank U, Next’. The title track — which discusses several of Grande’s former boyfriends — earned the singer her first No 1 single.
However, Grande admits: “But if I’m completely honest, I don’t remember those months of my life because I was (a) so drunk and (b) so sad. I don’t really remember how it started or how it finished, or how all of a sudden there were 10 songs on the board.”
‘I’M JUST THIS LITTLE BASKET-CASE PUDDLE’
Grande had tears in her eyes as she discussed the 2017 terrorist attack at her Manchester Arena concert, where a suicide bomber left several audience members dead, including an eight-year-old girl.
“It’s not my trauma … It’s those families’. It’s their losses, and so it’s hard to just let it all out without thinking about them reading this and reopening the memory for them,” said Grande.
“I’m proud that we were able to raise a lot of money with the intention of giving people a feeling of love or unity, but at the end of the day, it didn’t bring anyone back. Everyone was like, ‘Wow, look at this amazing thing,’ and I was like, ‘What the [expletive] are you guys talking about?’ We did the best we could, but on a totally real level we did nothing. I’m sorry,” she added.
The former Disney star confessed that she was still figuring everything out.
“I’m a person who’s been through a lot and doesn’t know what to say about any of it to myself, let alone the world. I see myself onstage as this perfectly polished, great-at-my-job entertainer, and then in situations like this I’m just this little basket-case puddle of figuring it out,” she said.
