- Ariana Grande won the Rising Star award at the Palm Springs Film Festival
- But the actor has been in the entertainment industry for 17 years
- Grande thanked ‘Botox and Juvederm’ in her witty acceptance speech
Ariana Grande has been a household name since her days on Nickelodeon.
But despite her 17 years in the industry, last weekend, the singer and actor, 31, picked up a Rising Star award for her role in Wicked.
Taking to the stage at the Palm Springs Film Festival in California, Grande was presented with the gong by Jennifer Coolidge – who previously starred in her Thank U, Next music video.
“Hasn’t Ariana already risen?” joked the actor, 63.
But rather than take her friend’s words to heart, Grande was quick to tag onto the joke.
“You don’t know how much it means to me,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I’ve been performing since I was a child, so I never thought at the age of 31 I would be hearing the words ‘rising star’ again.
“I wanted to start by thanking my two friends: Botox and Juvederm.”
Grande – who plays Glinda in the Jon M. Chu directed Wicked – continued, “I thought I’d be hearing ‘slightly withering star’ or ‘drooping star’ by now so thank you.”
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo talk Wicked pay
Elsewhere, Grande and her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo – who plays Elphaba in the movie – dispelled the drama surrounding their fees for the film.
It had been widely reported that while Grande received $15 million for her role, Erivo, AGE, took home just $1 million.
But in an interview with Variety, Dangerous Woman singer Grande said the pair “went through [their] contracts together”.
She also said they “called each other up” and discussed elements of their contracts. Wicked director Jon M. Chu spoke in the interview on the rumor, and said “This is a modern production. This is what Hollywood should reflect. These are co-CEOs of Wicked, Inc.”
Erivo went on, “We both went through it – ‘What number are we doing? How do you feel about that?’ We were really [expletive] honest. And that’s really rare. People don’t do that.”
Ariana Grande debunks tour rumors
Grande also recently debunked another rumor – this time surrounding the possibility of a 2025 world tour.
While fans would love to see her on stage later this year, it seems as though the star is throwing herself into acting.
In a statement posted to Twitter/X, Grande’s label, Republic Records, wrote, “There are no plans for a tour next year, but Ariana remains deeply appreciative of her fans and all their continued love, support and excitement.”
The tour was predicted to support her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, which was released on March 8 this year.
It would follow the Sweetener World Tour, which ran from March 2019 to December 2019, and celebrated her albums Sweetener and Thank U, Next.
