Ariana Grande reveals she went over ‘Wicked’ contract with Cynthia Erivo to ensure equal terms

Ariana Grande has said she suggested that she and Cynthia Erivo go over their Wicked contracts together to ensure they had equal terms.

• READ MORE: Wicked review: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have real chemistry

Grande was speaking at a live event hosted by the SAG-AFTRA foundation in which she discussed why it was so important for her to have parity with her co-star.

“We talk a lot about this pact that we made to take care of each other and to be really honest with each other about anything that were to come up,” said Grande. “But I don’t think people really get how granular we got and how fully we mean that.

“When I got my contract I called her and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s go through this thing. Let’s go beat per beat through this together and make sure that we’re aligned in what we need. Because if you need something, we need it together. I want us to have each other’s backs. Like, your problems become my problems, and mine become yours.’”

ariana grande says she and cynthia erivo went over their contracts together to ensure they both had what they needed: “let’s go beat per beat through this together and make sure that we’re aligned in what we need because if you need something, we need it together.” pic.twitter.com/pDdbrdUb9k

— Ariana Grande Today ☼ (@ArianaToday) December 14, 2024

Erivo spoke up for Grande recently as well, coming to her co-star’s defense over “cyberbullying” Grande has received as the film came out.

“Cyberbullying is quite dangerous,” she said, adding that it was “easy to be behind the computer typing words about a person you don’t know anything about” (via Variety).

She went on to say she plans to “be the counterpoint” to such narratives. She added: “Be the person who tells the positive. What a person who has never met you thinks is never more important than what you think of yourself.”

Last year, Grande also spoke out about fans’ “concerns” about her body, telling them that “I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what.”

With a combined $270million (£214.6milion) in worldwide ticket sales over last weekend, Wicked was the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. It was also a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.

Wicked hit cinemas in the UK and US on November 22, and it’s predicted by cinema bosses to be the biggest film of the year.

Grande’s ‘Imperfect For You’, taken from her latest album ‘Eternal Sunshine’, was named one of NME‘s 50 best songs of 2024. NME described it as “an overwhelmingly beautiful ballad with a touch of psychedelic soul” and said “it was as close as you can get to a hidden gem on one of the year’s biggest pop albums. Love has equal potential to hurt and to heal, and Ariana Grande carries both possibilities with boundless grace.”