Ariana Grande’s family makes desperate intervention amid health fears… as insiders reveal agony over comparison and heartbreak that haunts her: ‘She is not well’
Alone at center stage in Chicago on Monday night, Ariana Grande halted her Eternal Sunshine Tour set to say she wanted to ‘get a little real’ – even admitting she had written the moment down in case nerves took over.
It was a strikingly vulnerable moment for a star now stepping back from the spotlight, with her representatives confirming she is taking a ‘break’ after her tour ends amid ‘ongoing scrutiny.’
The move comes after her exit from the West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George and only hours after her Petals music video sparked concern over her appearance, with some comparing her to musician Karen Carpenter, who died in 1983 at 32 after battling anorexia.
As the audience roared its support, 33-year-old Grande, speaking in her familiar, hushed voice, said the decision to step away had been made ‘a long time ago’ and was not a ‘reactive or impulsive’ response to the criticism.
Calm on the surface, the Oscar-nominated star insisted the ‘negativity’ was not ‘ruining things’ for her – but behind the scenes, insiders say the cracks are starting to show.
‘We have asked her to take a break. Actually we’ve begged her, like a lot. A lot a lot,’ a family insider close to the star told the Daily Mail. ‘Not like a day or two, but a break break. She is not well. She is anxious and unhappy. She doesn’t sleep enough, doesn’t eat enough.’
Her appearance in her latest music video sparked further concern for her health
Calm on the surface, the Oscar-nominated star insisted the ‘negativity’ was not ‘ruining things’ for her
They added that her family and friends are ‘very concerned about her,’ and that ‘it doesn’t have to be forever, but it has to be for now.’
Everyone in her life, they said, wants her to be happy and healthy, ‘and she can only do that with a break.’
Another source said the backlash has hit hard, saying, ‘All the whispers about her wellbeing and health have really affected her mental health to a point where she needs to step away as she has felt she hasn’t been herself for quite some time.’
And a third added that the fallout has left her desperate to retreat: ‘She wants to run and hide in a corner. She doesn’t know how to respond.’
The scrutiny has come at an especially difficult time for the former Nickelodeon child star, who has spent the past few years at a whirlwind pace.
In that time, Grande juggled both Wicked films, including the demanding promotional tours, released her new album Petal and powered through a grueling 41-show tour.
There is, of course, also her love life, with fans recently in a frenzy over what appears to be a reunion with old flame Ricky Alvarez. A source previously told the Daily Mail that Grande – who split from her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, 34, earlier this year – has been ‘hanging out’ with Alvarez, 35, and that they were ‘dating again’ a decade after their 2016 split.
And never mind that she may still be expected to promote Focker-In-Law, in which she stars alongside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, when it is released on November 25, though there is no word yet on whether that remains the plan.
‘Dealing with years of filming Wicked, the never-ending press tour, then working on the Meet the Parents sequel, her music, getting ready for a tour and then her personal relationship sagas, she is completely burnt out,’ the second source said.
A fourth insider added: ‘Ariana is exhausted from work and dealing with her public image; it’s like an endless hamster wheel, and she needs a break.’
Grande is currently on her Eternal Sunshine tour, with her appearance on stage sparking concern among fans
One source said, ‘She is not well. She is anxious and unhappy. She doesn’t sleep enough, doesn’t eat enough’
Certainly, Grande is far from the first pop star to be swallowed by public scrutiny. But by anyone’s standards, she has also lived through a series of genuinely heartbreaking events that would leave most people reeling.
First came the horrific suicide bombing at her Manchester Arena concert in 2017, which killed 22 people, many of them children, and injured more than 1,000 others.
Grande was deeply affected by the atrocity, later saying she was ‘broken’ and unable to find the words to describe how devastated she felt at the time.
A year after the attack, she said: ‘People are permanently affected by this stuff. It changes everything.’
She also added that she was coping with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, even as she bravely organized the benefit concert One Love Manchester to support victims and their families.
Then, in 2018, just a year after Manchester, came another devastating blow, when her rapper ex-boyfriend Mac Miller died from an accidental drug overdose at just 26.
Grande had first met him when she was 19, and the pair were together for almost two years before splitting around four months before his death.
‘I can’t believe you’re not here any more,’ she wrote online at the time. ‘I don’t know what to do. You were my dearest friend.’ In an interview the following year, she said her grief over his death was ‘pretty all-consuming.’
But insiders say the most recent heartbreak may be the one sitting heaviest on her now: Grande’s beloved grandmother, Marjorie ‘Nonna’ Grande, who died in June 2025 at 99.
‘One thing that she hasn’t fully been able to work out and give time for is the death of her Nonna, who was one of the most important people in her life,’ the second source said.
‘She has masked her feelings about the loss by diving into work, but even she knows that she has to give some time to grieve.’
Grande’s beloved grandmother, Marjorie ‘Nonna’ Grande, died in June 2025 at 99
‘She has seen her brother go through so much and he is now back in a much healthier place that she wants to be in the same boat as him,’ the source said of Grande and her brother Frankie
Nonna Grande was a hugely cherished presence, often appearing on social media, attending award shows and becoming a familiar figure to fans who adored her bond with her granddaughter.
The insider added: ‘Ariana hasn’t been able to fully cope with that yet, and she is hoping, with her time away, she can focus on that more. If she didn’t stop now, she never would have.’
Now, Grande is said to be looking to her brother as a source of inspiration.
Grande’s brother Frankie, 43, had struggled with substance abuse for years, and eventually opened up to her about it ahead of her One Love Manchester benefit concert after the bombing. On June 16, 2017, two weeks after One Love Manchester, Frankie checked himself into rehab and has been sober ever since.
‘She has seen her brother go through so much and he is now back in a much healthier place that she wants to be in the same boat as him,’ the source said. ‘It is time to reflect, rewind, and reboot.’
Meanwhile, fans have fixated on Grande’s appearance, describing her as alarmingly thin and pointing out her visible ribcage in her new music video for her song Petals.
Directed by Christian Breslauer, the video was a homage to women pushed to the brink by impossible standards, with Grande taking a chainsaw to dismissive male music executives in a blood-soaked finale.
It was intended as sharp social commentary on the scrutiny she has faced for years – but, predictably, many viewers were more interested in her weight.
‘Shocking and heartbreaking,’ wrote one fan, while another pleaded, ‘For the love of God, please eat something.’
Then there were the Carpenter comparisons, with one fan posting of the music video, ‘This is like looking at Karen Carpenter and everyone was like [shrug].’
Carpenter was a gifted American singer and drummer who rose to fame with her brother Richard as part of the 70s pop duo The Carpenters. She died at 32 due to heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia nervosa.
Our fourth insider explained: ‘Comparing Ariana to Karen Carpenter, as many people have done online, is like a stab through the heart. Ariana tries not to read what people are saying about her, but she sometimes can’t help herself.’
The fourth insider explained, ‘Comparing Ariana to Karen Carpenter, as many people have done online, is like a stab through the heart,’ Above, Richard and Karen Carpenter in 1981
A fourth insider added, ‘Ariana is exhausted from work and dealing with her public image; it’s like an endless hamster wheel, and she needs a break’
Grande has also had to deal with the relentless public noise around her appearance. (Pictured: Grande in 2018, which she claims was an ‘unhealthy’ time for her)
And it’s not just the online vitriol – strangers have even approached her in the street to tell her how ‘worried’ they are, per the source.
Still, Grande has pushed back over the years, insisting she is healthy and urging people to be gentler when talking about bodies.
In April 2023, she posted a video online saying: ‘I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies.’
The following year, on her song Yes, And?, she sang: ‘Don’t comment on my body, do not reply. Your business is yours and mine is mine. Why do you care so much… Why?’
Then, in a 2024 interview with YouTuber Sally, she said: ‘There’s a comfortability that people have commenting on that that I think is really dangerous,’ adding, ‘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.’
At the time, she said that when people compared her current look with older photos, those earlier images were actually ‘the unhealthiest version’ of her body.
‘I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly…[I was] at the lowest points of my life when I looked the way you consider “my healthy,” but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.’
And even though Grande can stand up for herself, our third insider said it still takes a toll: ‘Even though she has a lot of stamina, she is a very sensitive, intuitive empath who feels everything so she needs to go into a cocoon and heal herself and feel normal again.
‘She has to stay home and be in nature for a while to ground herself. She wants to really chill out and re-think her life.’
Grande’s love life is just as scrutinized as her appearance, with fans recently in a frenzy over what looks like a reunion with old flame Ricky Alvarez (pictured in 2016)
Grande and Slater, who starred in Wicked together, broke up after nearly three years together
The family insider echoed the sentiment, saying they hope she can find ‘joy in little things,’ like ‘unplugging, taking a walk, drinking some tea and sitting outside.’
Grande, they said, has always wanted to do ‘artistic things’ and has shown interest in ‘painting or baking.’
‘She should do that for a change. I want to be clear that everyone around her is encouraging her to take care of herself, and it’s all out of a place of love,’ they added.
‘She’s never been great at self-care,’ the source continued. ‘She feels like it is doing what you love, which is working. But sometimes you need a break from the things you love. Go touch grass. That’s what we want her to do.’
With her tour running until September 1, 2026, one insider said: ‘The fact that she’s managed to get through her Eternal Sunshine Tour so far is a miracle considering what she’s been going through.
‘She basically plans to go into hibernation as soon as it’s over.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Grande’s representatives for comment.
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