The singer and actress, who has been in the public eye since she was a teenager, is planning to take a break from the spotlight after her sold-out tour ends on Sept. 1. Her representative said on Sunday that her “public-facing work and appearances” had “led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”
She made the decision from a “thoughtful and empowered place,” the 33-year-old singer said later at her concert.
The announcement came amid growing concerns from fans about her weight and health.
Their worry escalated when Grande released a new music video for her album’s title track, “Petal,” last Friday. Grande starred as a working actress on the audition circuit, facing harsh feedback about her appearance and marketability from a panel of older men. Toward the end of the video, Grande’s character unleashes a chain saw on the men evaluating her performance. But the video was met with a new onslaught of concern over her physical appearance.
Grande has never publicly said she struggled from an eating disorder, and in 2023 issued a public plea for people to stop commenting on her body. Now she’s ignited a debate: Is commenting on people’s bodies harmful, or does silence normalize extreme thinness? Many of the comments about Grande have come from people who have struggled with body image or recovered from eating disorders, who have strong feelings about this question.
I wanted experts to weigh in. Health professionals who specialize in eating disorders told me that the scrutiny can exacerbate illness, for both regular people and celebrities who might be struggling.
FILE PHOTO: Ariana Grande attends the American Film Institute (AFI) Awards Luncheon in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
Sarah Ravin, a clinical psychologist in Coral Gables, Fla., told me the discourse is somewhat reminiscent of the criticism that dogged some young celebrities in the 2000s, including Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie. At the time, there wasn’t social media like today, where the 24/7 nature of the conversation can feel relentless.
“For people who are recovering from eating disorders, people who are trying to get better, these types of conversations around celebrities and their weight is very toxic,” Ravin said. Many in recovery are worried about being judged or perceived because of their body, she said. So, seeing that play out in the public sphere only validates that concern.
Experts I spoke to had mixed views on the current discourse and what it might mean for everyday people.
“When we turn a human being’s body into a public moral lesson, we aren’t helping anyone. We’re just weaponizing speculation under the guise of concern,” said Jessie Menzel, a clinical psychologist and senior vice president of clinical programs at Equip, a telehealth eating disorders treatment provider.
She stressed the dangers of confining discussion of eating disorders to weight alone. “This discourse really reduces what is a very complex biological illness to simply being 100% about the way somebody’s body looks.” She called this “a huge public health disservice.”
“Weight is really a byproduct of somebody’s complex relationships between their thoughts, their emotions, and then the actions that they take to try to regulate or cope,” she added.
Ariana Grande attends the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California, U.S., January 4, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman
Dr. Elizabeth Wassenaar, a psychiatrist and regional medical director at Eating Recovery Center, instead recommends that people have meaningful conversations with loved ones about how appearances and celebrities affect them: “How does that impact how they feel about their own body?”
Maria Rago, president of the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders and clinical psychologist, put it bluntly: “You shouldn’t deny reality and you shouldn’t be expected to pretend you don’t see something that you don’t see,” she said. “That’s not healthy.”
That said, it’s important people don’t make assumptions about why someone may have gained or lost weight, said Rago: “You can be caring.”
