Cynthia Erivo says the public judged her friendship with “Wicked” co-star Ariana Grande by a standard male co-stars would never face, and she compared the criticism to an armchair diagnosis. In an interview with The Guardian published this week, Erivo said many viewers acted like “psychologists from their couches” during the films’ worldwide press tours. She described an undercurrent of irritation that two women could be close, and a resentment of their tears and laughter on camera.
Erivo called the reaction a double-edged sword. If she and Grande had looked flat and guarded, she said, critics would have found fault with that too. She wished someone had simply told them how much emotion was acceptable.
The attention peaked with moments that spread across social media. In one interview, journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist said she was holding space for a song’s lyrics, and Grande and Erivo answered by linking fingers. The gesture became a meme. Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning later copied it when they sat down with Gilchrist.
Erivo has addressed the fascination before. She told Stylist in February that audiences struggled to picture two women being close without romance, because deep platonic friendship between women rarely appears on screen. She told Variety in May that she and Grande were “holding on by threads” through back-to-back filming and promotion, and that the two still text almost daily. She offered that as her answer to rumors of a falling-out. In her 2025 book, she wrote that the two made a pact to protect each other during production.
Grande has explained the physical affection as a way of channeling support toward a scene partner. She has called acting opposite Erivo the greatest privilege of her professional life. Both earned awards-season nominations for “Wicked: For Good,” the second film in the adaptation of the Broadway musical.
