Ariana Grande is reportedly retreating from public life after intense scrutiny over her appearance and weight, with fans and celebrities insisting that she is too thin and drawing comparisons between her and Karen Carpenter, who was anorexic.

The ongoing obsession with the singer’s shrinking frame reached fever pitch with the release of her music video “Petal” on Friday [31 July]. It was announced today that Grande, 33, will “step back from visibility”, as soon as she gets off the stage of London’s O2, where she is due to perform 10-nights of her Eternal Sunshine Tour from 15 August to 1 September.

The singer will no longer be co-starring in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George that was due to open at London’s Barbican Centre next summer, alongside Grande’s Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” her spokesperson told People magazine.

It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see that Grande has had enough of the body shaming, and is struggling under the constant obsession over her weight. In short, the Wicked star has been hounded out of public life over inappropriate comments – and it’s our fault.

Of course it is always worrying when somebody looks gaunt or loses a lot of weight, but a witch hunt doesn’t help anybody, and it’s not our place to label her as anorexic. We have no idea what is going on behind closed doors or what she is going through and criticism won’t help her.

Regardless, everybody is up in arms about her body weight, with worried fans taking to social media to vent their concerns:

“This is like looking at Karen Carpenter and everyone was like [shrug],” wrote one fan. Another wrote: “For the love of God, please eat something,” while a third person commented: “Her bones are literally popping out.”

It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see that Grande has had enough of the body shaming, and is struggling under the constant obsession over her weight

And women who support women are piling it on the pop star too, with model, author and body positivity activist Charli Howard, who herself has suffered with an eating disorder, piping in with stark and scary warnings.

“What I see is someone in desperate need of hospitalisation and care, and while I know it’s often impossible to help someone at this stage of anorexia, there HAS to be an immediate intervention,” she posted to Instagram.

“I think it’s appalling ... to have released these videos and an album when this person needs psychiatric help and hospitalisation. The teams involved should be absolutely ashamed...”

Actor and presenter Jameela Jamil weighed in on the discussion with comments on Instagram that have now been removed, claiming that Grande is “possibly dying in front of us”.

Jamil, who has previously battled an eating disorder, criticised the fact Grande’s thinness was celebrated in the “Petal” video, and that her team didn’t guide her away from “this deeply damaging image for her young fans to see so glamourised”.

After receiving backlash for her post, Jamil defended herself on Instagram, explaining: “I said possibly. My god. And my point stands, that this is deeply irresponsible for all the people involved to deliver this aesthetic as glamorous to the many billions of girls and women consuming this imagery.”

I understand Jamil’s concerns, but female celebrities already face far too much scrutiny over their appearance. Grande is a role model to young women and girls – but she’s also a person in her own right, and it must be insufferable to have people commenting on your body 24/7. I understand it myself as I’ve yo-yoed from being overweight to underweight and back to normal, and have experienced people commenting on my weight the whole way.

We have no idea what is going on behind closed doors or what she is going through and criticism won’t help her

When I eventually lost three stone using weight loss drugs in 2024 after piling on the pounds with two pregnancies and developing an unhealthily high cholesterol level, I was scrutinised by mums at the school gate, with one asking me if I had a terminal illness and another offering to drive her electronic scales over to my house to watch me as I weighed myself. I found thin shaming is considered to be far more acceptable than fat shaming.

But no one deserves to be named and shamed for their body weight and to live under that sort of intense judgment. Grande has been incredibly vocal about how it feels to have people comment on her appearance, yet we choose not to listen to her and instead take the medical diagnosis into our own hands.

In her 2024 song, “Yes, And?”, the pop star addresses the scrutiny over her appearance, singing: “My face is sitting, I don’t need no disguise/ Don't comment on my body, do not reply. Your business is yours and mine is mine/ Why do you care so much whose – I ride? ‘Why?’”

And, that same year, Grande held back tears during an interview with Sally Poumbga on YouTube. The French reporter asked her how she copes with society’s “beauty standards” and the “overwhelming” pressure women feel “to always look perfect”. “I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” was Grande’s response.

The ex-Nickelodeon star said that it’s “hard to protect yourself from that noise” when you’re young. “I think that it’s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you’re experiencing it on,” she revealed, “even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner, and someone’s granny says, ‘Oh my God, you look skinnier! What happened?’ or ‘You look heavier! What happened?'”

Grande first confronted issues surrounding her body weight in April 2023 when she was filming Wicked in London. She posted a TikTok video in which she urged others to be “gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies”.

“Personally for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” Grande said directly at the camera in her trademark soft tone.

“I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly, and at the lowest points of my life when I looked the way you consider ‘my healthy,’ but that in fact wasn’t my healthy”, she said.

Obviously we can’t be expected to live in denial that something isn’t right with Grande – and I’m not saying that people’s concerns aren’t coming from a place of love and care. But the barrage of attacks on her weight is counter-productive.

The people who are giving the advice and observations are strangers. We need to remember that she has friends and a very close and supportive family, specifically her mother Joan, her older half-brother Frankie, who shared on a podcast that Grande supported his sobriety by attending 12-step meetings with him around mid-2017 following the Manchester Arena bombing. It’s not as if she doesn’t know where help is should she need it, or be ready for it.

I can’t imagine the constant comments are helping her health. It’s time to stop pointing the finger because whether she is anorexic or not

As she pointed out to Japan Vogue, however, she hasn’t had a break for 15 years – and clearly is oversubscribed with film and theatre roles, as well as her pop tour. The strain of living in a goldfish bowl of celebrity could be getting to her, along with the enormous pressure and onslaught of public scrutiny.

I can’t imagine the constant comments are helping her health. It’s time to stop pointing the finger because whether she is anorexic or not, it isn’t fair to subject her to such body shaming and judgment.

As Grande advised others dealing with body shaming in 2024: “You all can protect yourselves from that noise – whether it’s at a family reunion or online, if you gotta block people, I don’t care if you have to delete the app entirely – you keep yourself safe because no one has the right to say sh*t.”

Grande is true to her word – and what she is doing is blocking us all by stepping out of the limelight and finding some peace. She deserves it.

For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040.