Cynthia Erivo calls out hate over her close friendship with Ariana Grande during Wicked tour

Cynthia Erivo has finally spoken about the public’s reaction to her close friendship with Ariana Grande during the Wicked press tour, and she’s called out people for making such a big deal out of their bond.

Cynthia and Ariana starred as Elphaba and Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked films. And while they promoted the movies, there were loads of big emotions between them. From hugging and crying together to the now-famous finger-holding moment, pretty much everything they did went viral.

And obviously, not everyone seemed to understand their closeness, and Cynthia has now shared how strange she found the reaction.

Cynthia Erivo questions why people were so bothered by their friendship

Speaking to The Guardian, Cynthia said she noticed that people were making assumptions about her relationship with Ariana. “It was interesting that there were many people who had become psychologists from their couches,” she said.

She added, “There was this weird sort of, what’s the word I’m looking for … annoyance … at the fact that two women could actually be friends. Like, why are they friends? Why are they connected? There must be something wrong with them.”

Remember when Ariana and Cynthia were hugging, crying and showing loads of affection during the Wicked press tour? Those moments that went viral, with people analysing practically everything they did? Yeah, Cynthia has now questioned why showing emotion became such an issue.

“Why are they showing emotion? How dare they cry? And how dare they laugh? And how dare they be emotive and alive?” she asked.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” she added. “Because if we were dead behind the eyes and showing no emotion, there would have been something else to say about it. I wish there was someone who could have been like, ‘Right, this is the proper balance of emotion that you should show. Don’t show this. Don’t show that. Just this amount.’”

Cynthia also addressed being called Ariana’s bodyguard

Cynthia Erivo protects Ariana Grande from a ‘Wicked: For Good’ premiere attendee. pic.twitter.com/XQBeQJWZsI

— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 13, 2025

Even if you weren’t up to date with all the Wicked stuff, you would’ve probably seen what happened at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore, when a man grabbed Ariana on the red carpet, and Cynthia immediately stepped in.

Cynthia described the incident as terrifying and explained what was going through her mind at the time. “‘Get this man away from us now,’” was her reaction, as she recalled it.

But the internet soon started calling her Ariana’s “bodyguard”, and Cynthia wasn’t comfortable with that label. She explained that the reaction was rooted in misogyny and misogynoir.

“I was like, ‘Oh, you think because I look like this that you could talk to me this way about something that was a human thing that I would have done for any friend, and hopefully a friend would have done for me,’” she said. “But I must be a bodyguard.”

After the Wicked tour, rumours started that Cynthia and Ariana were no longer friends because they weren’t seen together as much. But they’ve both spoken kindly about each other since then, and it’s very clear that they’re still friends.

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Featured image credit: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock