Cynthia Erivo finally set the record straight on her deeply close bond with Ariana Grande which piqued fans’ curiosity during the Wicked press tour, and then became the source of memes.
The 39-year-old singer-actress talked about the rumours for the first time during a recent interview, saying, “At first, I think people didn’t understand how it was possible for two women to be friends – close – and not lovers.”
The Wicked star went on to share that she had “never” spoken about it but she thought there was a strange fascination regarding the nature and reality of their friendship.
Erivo told The Stylist that people thought “we were putting it on for the cameras” to promote their movie, adding, “I think it’s because there’s such little conversation around platonic female friendship that is deep and real, even though it exists everywhere. We’re not used to seeing it on camera, in front of people. A relationship where people are connected sometimes just makes people uncomfortable; we aren’t taught that those relationships are good for us.”
The actress and the Disney alum, 32, decidedly portrayed the opposite of the common narrative around female co-stars, Erivo said. “We hear often how female costars — or really, any costars — can sometimes let their egos get in the way until they battle each other, destroying the creative process for everyone involved,” but they wanted to change that.
She shared that on-set as well as off-set the two co-stars found an important partnership and they text each other almost every day even now.
