Ariana Grande has begun a career hiatus after playing the final show of her Eternal Sunshine tour at London's O2 Arena on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old singer tearfully bid farewell to showbiz at the concert. Grande has sold more than 90 million records, won multiple Grammy Awards, broken dozens of Guinness World Records and transitioned from a Nickelodeon child star to an Oscar-nominated film actor.
Her representatives announced last month that she would step back from public life. A spokesman told People magazine that the singer would take "a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny."
The hiatus follows a nonstop five-year work schedule. During that time, Grande filmed two parts of the movie Wicked, shot the film Focker-in-Law, released the albums Eternal Sunshine and Petal, and completed a tour that began in Oakland on June 6.
Coping with trauma
Grande has been in therapy since her parents divorced when she was a child, but her mental health struggles intensified after a suicide bomber targeted her Manchester Arena concert in May 2017. The blast killed 22 people and injured more than 1,000.
She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following the attack. Speaking to Elle magazine, she described developing physical symptoms including dizzy spells and a feeling that she could not breathe. She said the anxiety would "hit me out of nowhere," leaving her feeling "upside down" for months.
A year after the bombing, she told British Vogue that the trauma was difficult to discuss because so many people had suffered severe loss, saying she felt like she should not even speak about her own experience. "I don't think I'll ever know how to talk about it and not cry," she said.
Grande channelled her grief into her August 2018 album Sweetener. She told the Awards Chatter podcast that making the music contributed to saving her life and served as a means of survival during dark times.
Less than a month after Sweetener was released, Grande's ex-boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller, was found dead at the age of 26 from an accidental overdose of cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol. The pair had dated for almost two years before amicably splitting in May 2018.
She responded by writing her fifth album, Thank U, Next, in two weeks. Grande said the project gave her the courage to be vulnerable and connect with people over her pain, rather than hiding behind a "weird, polished pop star facade."
The album was released in February 2019. Grande said her record label was hesitant to stop promoting Sweetener so quickly, but she told them she did not care about the formula because the new music was what her soul needed, describing it as "healing and freeing."
Red carpet ambush
Her PTSD was triggered last year at the Wicked premiere in Singapore, where a man jumped a barrier and grabbed the singer on the red carpet. A Daily Mail investigation confirmed the incident was a coordinated attack by Johnson Wen, a repeat offender using the pseudonym Pyjama Man who boasted on Instagram about being a hated troll. He posted a string of pictures and videos before and after his attack on Grande, and had previously targeted singers Katy Perry and the Weeknd.
Following the ambush, an insider told the Daily Mail that sudden approaches trigger Grande's panic attacks, causing her mind to jump to the worst-case scenario. The source added that after the Manchester bombing, she had wanted to "quit everything and become a hermit."
Body scrutiny
Grande has also faced intense public scrutiny regarding her appearance. After she dyed her hair light blonde to play Glinda in 2022, fans expressed concern over apparent weight loss on her petite frame.
The star posted a social media video asking fans to be "gentler and less comfortable" remarking on bodies. She explained that she had been on antidepressants, drinking on them and eating poorly at what fans considered her healthiest time, calling it the "lowest point of my life."
"You never know what someone is going through," she said. "Even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it."
Fan concerns resurfaced this year following the release of the music video for her song Petal, which prompted commentary about an alarmingly frail frame.
The scrutiny extended to the Wicked promotional tour, where the cast drew attention for frequently crying and clinging to each other. When host Jimmy Fallon asked Grande on The Tonight Show if the cast would miss each other after filming wrapped in January 2024, she replied that they had become "quite codependent."
Following the release of the sequel, Wicked: For Good, Grande confirmed she was returning her focus to music. She said she had been taking baby steps to rebuild her relationship with touring and music, noting that the trauma from the Manchester concert was dissipating.
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