Ariana Grande speaks for the first time about her experience on Nickelodeon: 'We are reprocessing our relationship'

The singer and actress chatted on Penn Badgley's podcast and reiterated the need for child stars to have therapists available on film sets.

La cantante Ariana Grande acudió a la Met Gala el pasado lunes, 6 de mayo de 2024. — (Cordon Press)

Published by

Rosana Rábago Sainz

13 de junio, 2024

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Ariana Grande spoke Wednesday for the first time about her experience at Nickelodeon. The singer and actress, famous for series such as "Victorious" and "Sam & Cat," chatted on Penn Badgley's podcast titled "Podcrushed" and explained what it meant to her to be a young star at the kids' television giant.

Grande became known with her role as Cat Valentine in "Victorious," one of the series produced by Dan Schneider, now infamous for details revealed about him on "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV." Since then, many stars have come out to tell their stories. Grande decided to remain silent and did not collaborate in the documentary but, when Badgley asked her about her experience with the company, the artist said that, unlike many of her colleagues, it was not that traumatic:

I was 14 and I flew out to audition with Liz Gillies for "Victorious," and we were all very excited and we got cast and it was the best news we could hear. We were young performers who just wanted to do this with our lives more than anything, and we got to and that was so beautiful. I think we had some very special memories, and we feel so privileged to have been able to create those roles and be a part of something that was so special for a lot of young kids.

Grande says she is 'reprocessing her relationship with the series'

However, in retrospect, she recognizes that some scenes, which are described in the documentary as "sexual," should have been studied to see "if that makes sense" and that she is now "reprocessing her relationship" with the show:

I think we're re-processing our relationship a little bit now. Specifically about our show, I think it was something that we were convinced was what was great about us: is that we push the limits with our humor. And the hints were... It was like a great differentiation. And I don't know, I think it all happened so fast and now, looking back at some of the clips, I'm like, "Damn, really?" Oh shit... and the stuff that wasn't approved for the network was put on our website or whatever. I guess I'm upset, yeah.

She said she has had this feeling especially since "Quiet on Set" was released. She said, in statements reported by Deadline, that discovering what the rest of her co-stars had suffered was "devastating." Furthermore, she assured, this reinforced the need for therapists to be on film sets:

I think the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists. I think parents should allowed to be wherever they want to be, and I think not only on kids’ sets. If anyone wants to do this, or music, or anything at this level of exposure, there should be in the contract something about therapy is mandatory twice a week or thrice a week, or something like that.