How Ariana Grande has been plagued with ‘homewrecking’ & ‘blackfish’ scandals but tragic terror attack redeemed her

ARIANA Grande has gone from a child actress to a worldwide popstar and is now starring in the long-awaited Wicked film - with rumours swirling of Oscar nominations.

And while she's lighting up the silver screen as Glinda the Good Witch - Ariana's past antics have often cast a shadow over her superstar status.

From licking doughnuts and shouting ‘I hate America’ in her teen years to being accused of 'stealing men' and 'blackfishing' to boost her music career, the 31-year-old has been swept up in her fair share of drama.

And to add insult to injury, recently actress Cassandra Peterson went public saying she was ‘the worst celebrity’ she’d ever met. So why has Ariana’s path to stardom been so treacherous leading up to Wicked? Fabulous investigates.

Young & 'Offensive'  

Propelled into stardom at the age of 16 as the goofy and dimwitted Cat Valentine in the hit Nickelodeon show Victorious, Ariana soon won over audiences and became the most popular actress from the show.

It led her to be the co-star of spin-off show Sam & Cat four years later - but she soon decided to move on to pursue her singing career.

All seemed to be going well for the red-head as she released her debut album Your Truly in 2013.

While it had no number-one hits - it did secure Ariana a second album in 2015 titled My Everything, featuring hit songs like Break Free and Problem.

But rumours whirled and fans started to talk about how stardom and newfound attention could have been getting too much for Ariana.

When she was 22 she was caught on camera apparently licking doughnuts on display in an LA store and saying she hated America.

Taking to Youtube, she said: “First of all, I mean, my behavior was very offensive, and I apologized.

“There’s no excuse or there’s nothing to justify it.

“As human beings we all say and do things that we don’t mean at all sometimes, and we have to learn from it,” she said. “I think one of the biggest things I learned from that was what it feels like to disappoint so many people who love and believe in you, and that’s an excruciating feeling.”

But it wouldn’t be the last time Ariana would slip up under the watchful eye of the public.

Later, Ariana admitted to stopping interviews for a while because she was afraid of the ‘diva’ label that kept cropping up at the time, which lost her gigs at the MLB All-Star Game and the White House.

Homewrecker

Like any superstar, Ariana has had to dodge rumours about her dating life ever since she entered the public eye - especially her somewhat complicated relationships.

It also started when she dated Big Sean in 2014, with the pair making their relationship public when they walked the red carpet together in at the 2015 Grammys.

I walk in, go downstairs, and guess what little girl is sitting cross-legged on the couch listening to music? … It rhymes with ‘Smariana Schmande.

Naya Rivera

However, it was clear to most that their relationship was never going to last, especially after she reportedly 'stole' Big Sean from Glee star Naya Rivera, who tragically died in 2020 in a boating accident.

Before her passing, Naya wrote a tell-all book about her time in Hollywood titled Sorry Not Sorry where she heavily hinted at Ariana’s involvement in her engagement to Big Sean being called off.

Naya wrote: “I walk in, go downstairs, and guess what little girl is sitting cross-legged on the couch listening to music? … It rhymes with ‘Smariana Schmande. I learned that I was no longer getting married from the internet and at the same time as the rest of the world. Not only were we no longer getting married, but apparently we weren’t even together anymore.

Not long after, Ariana and Sean began dating - leading many to question if there was any crossover.