When Universal Pictures recently released “Wicked: For Good,” starring Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the conversation quickly moved away from the film itself.
Fans and critics focused not on the story but on the appearances of Grande and Erivo. Both actors appeared noticeably thinner than in the first “Wicked” film, and fans and critics shifted the conversation away from the film, and toward their health.
In 2023, Grande addressed the public commentary in a TikTok.
“The body you’re comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” Grande said in the video.
In 2024, the first “Wicked” film premiered in theaters, showcasing Grande’s noticeably thin figure. In November 2025, “Wicked: For Good” followed, and viewers noted that Grande and several co-stars appeared thinner than before.
Online, speculation grew that the film’s production pressures may have played a role. Co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh drew similar comments.
Shortly after the film’s release, videos criticizing the cast’s appearance went viral on social media. One TikTok by the user May Payne called the film “a hard watch.”
The conversation also raised questions about how these images could affect younger viewers. With photos of Grande and Erivo circulating online, many worried that young viewers could be influenced by unhealthy body standards.
“I feel like the relationship between Ariana and Cynthia was so abnormal, their public interactions made it strange between them and it began to show on their bodies,” sophomore Eli Augustine said. “I definitely noticed it in the films.”
During press tours, Grande and Erivo’s close bond also drew attention. Erivo was seen protecting Grande during a fan interaction that turned physical. Erivo, in an almost heroic fashion, immediately stepped in to rip her co-star from the excited fan’s grasp, leading fans of the fellow witches to think that their relationship goes deeper than just the surface.
Cynthia would put herself in the face of danger to save her fellow witch.
In one interview with the Jake Hamilton on his channel Jake’s Takes, the pair became emotional when asked about the connection they built during filming. Both are seen tearing up over their journey through filming and building a bond through the story of Wicked that both have grown so close to.
All of this shifted focus away from the film’s intended themes of diversity and acceptance. Instead, conversations centered on the actors’ appearances, with some viewers finding the imagery from the press tour upsetting or worried that it glamorizes extreme thinness.
“It tarnished the message of strong female empowerment in the movie while they were on the press tour,” junior Leo Gragnani said. “They were trying to show the message of strong women fighting for what they want, but they don’t represent that. They look weak.”
The pattern quickly earned a name: the “Wicked effect.” Some drew parallels to Judy Garland’s frame and diet in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”
Studio records from MGM Studios show Garland was put on strict diets and given pills to control her weight during filming. Could this be the same strict regiment that Grande would follow almost 100 years later?
Trying to push the idea that being skinny is the only path to being beautiful is harmful to the minds of young girls and boys watching the careers of Grande and Erivo. Similar pressures exist today as those from a decades-old standard, and is a discussion the “Wicked” movies and its adjacent press tour, have forced into the open.
This article originally appeared in the Early Spring 2026 print edition.
