The real reason Ariana Grande looks so different revealed, and it has nothing to do with weight loss

With her perfected slick of black eyeliner, bronzed-up glow and famed high ponytail, Ariana Grande’s look in the 2010s was one many girls sought to recreate.

But as she’s promoted her new movie Wicked on a whirlwind press tour, Ariana has sparked concern with her drastically changed appearance, which has said to have prompted concern from her family and boyfriend Ethan Slater.

The Florida-born singer, 31, has made several worrying appearances after debuting her new blonde hair for her role as Glinda in October 2022, starring alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.

Ariana looks starkly different from just a few years ago when she was known for her trademark tanned skin and high swishy ponytail – and many have been quick to pin her changing looks on losing weight, saying she now looks ‘very fragile’.

Fans have dubbed her new look ‘worrying’ as she’s ‘so small’, with one writing: ‘I love Ariana and I don’t think people should comment on other people’s bodies at all, but there’s no way you can look at her and not think she’s not healthy.’

From her natural black tresses, dying her hair red for Victorious, and a tan so dark she was even accused of ‘blackfishing’ to her current porcelain complexion, Ariana has opted for some very contrasting looks throughout her years in the spotlight.

Speaking to FEMAIL, beauty experts have now revealed the real reason behind the Thank U, Next singer’s transformation is actually down to a number of cosmetic changes and ‘switching up her make-up’ as she’s entered her thirties.

Amish Patel, an aesthetics practitioner and skincare expert at Intrigue Cosmetic Clinic, said: ‘Dying your hair from dark to blonde and bleaching your eyebrows will make you look radically different.

‘However, she still retains her cat-winged signature eye make-up, which emphasises her eyes beautifully.’

Since embarking on her Wicked adventure, Ariana has bleached her eyebrows and hair to achieve Glinda’s ethereal beauty.

She’s also ditched her fake tan and hair extensions and has begun using pale lipstick and make-up, giving her skin the appearance of being ‘gaunt’ and ‘thinner’.

Amish said: ‘Don’t forget we have also watched Ariana grow up under the spotlight and now in her thirties, I think it’s a natural thing to want to switch up your look and experiment with changes in hair and make-up/style, it’s just that she is doing it in front of millions.

‘Ariana is petite with a naturally small frame. With a gruelling work schedule, it’s not so easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle with plenty of rest, especially as she will be in the middle of doing the rounds of press junkets and touring and promoting the film.

‘Ariana looks stunning in her promotional photos and trailer for the film, but as any celebrity will know, working long hours, flying around the world, and unflattering paparazzi photos will never be a complimentary combination!’

Amish also indicated that Ariana’s changed appearance could be due to the harshness of the lighting on red carpets.

He added: ‘Even in harsh lighting, Ariana’s skin looks healthy and flawless, indicating that she looks after herself despite being so busy. Her make-up and hair colour choices complement her petite features; it has more to do with being photographed in harsh lighting that has led to comments.’

In an interview in September 2023 when comments were rife surrounding her changed appearance, Ariana said she’d had a ‘ton’ of fillers and botox over the years – and it will undoubtedly had an impact on how she’s perceived by the public.

In a video shared by Vogue Beauty Secrets she candidly confessed that she used to get a lot of lip filler and Botox – but stopped in 2018 because she felt like she had gone too far.

‘I had a ton of lip filler over the years and Botox, but I stopped in 2018 because I just felt so — too much,’ she shared in the fiercely honest clip.

She added as she became emotional, ‘I just felt, like, hiding, you know. For a long time, beauty was about hiding for me, and now I feel like maybe it’s not since I stopped getting fillers and Botox.’

Ariana encouraged her followers to embrace their natural looks, especially as they age.

‘For me, I wanna see my well-earned cry lines and smile lines,’ she continued. ‘I hope my smile lines get deeper and deeper and I laugh more and more. I just think aging can be such a beautiful thing.’

Plastic surgeon Mark Solomos, who runs marksolomos.com, told FEMAIL: ‘Ariana has been genetically blessed with very attractive and petite features and she still is very beautiful, however she does look quite different.

‘Firstly there’s noticeable weight loss which because this automatically shows up in her face, I would suggest she’s had some fillers to replenish the fat loss and add volume in and around the cheek area.

‘I’d also suggest she’s had a small amount of filler in the lips as they are noticeably fuller, giving quite her quite a different look.

‘Furthermore, possibly a small amount of Botox has been used to smooth the forehead around the eye area to give a wider appearance.

‘But of course, the blonde hair and change of make-up pallet can equally made someone look very different in appearance alongside minor tweakments.’

A source told DailyMail.com exclusively last week that Ariana’s partner Ethan Slater, who stars alongside her as ‘Boq’ in Wicked, ‘feels helpless’ regarding his girlfriend’s appearance and is equally as ‘concerned’ about her as fans have been.

The source said that they were confused as to why ‘everybody is so focused on this movie when Ariana clearly needs help.’

The source added: ‘Ethan is concerned for her but feels helpless.’

The 7 Rings singer had shocked fans on the red carpet last month in Los Angeles, with fans saying she looked ‘very fragile’.

Posing alongside her Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the singer looked noticeably slimmer than she has done in the past.

‘I love Ariana and I don’t think people should comment on other people’s bodies at all, but there’s no way you can look at her and not think she’s not healthy,’ one person wrote on social media.

Another wrote: ‘Ariana looks very fragile and not in a good way.’

A third added: ‘I know she has been slim all her life but seeing her now is worrying, she is so small.’

Experts have long warned that having a visible sternum and gaunter cheeks as an adult may be a sign of health conditions including malnourishment and lipoatrophy — the loss of fat tissue.

In an interview with the New York Times, both Ariana and Cynthia hinted at intensely pressured schedules on set, with both contracting Covid during filming.

‘We only got sick once each, but both were before some of the most important works of the whole movie — mine was the week before Popular,’ Ariana said.

‘I came to set with a mask on my final days of recovery to learn the hallway finale.’

When the actors’ strike forced production to a halt last summer, Cynthia also admitted she was ‘grateful’ as they had both ‘worked [themselves] to the bone.’

‘At first, it felt like an interruption, and then as it went on, it felt like the rest we needed’, she said. ‘We’d worked ourselves to the bone. I was really grateful.’

Last year, Ariana clapped back at body shamers and insisted that she was healthier than ever after pictures comparing her weight over the years went viral.

In a three-minute long TikTok video, she said people should be ‘gentler and less comfortable’ commenting on people’s bodies and appearances.

‘If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is — healthy or unhealthy, big or small, this or that, sexy or not sexy, we should really work towards not doing that as much,’ she said.

The Yes And? singer also claimed the version of her that people were comparing her to was the ‘unhealthiest version of her body.’

‘There are many different kinds of beautiful. There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful,’ she stated.

‘And personally for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body.’

She explained that she was ‘on a lot of anti-depressants’ and ‘drinking on them’ and also admitted that she was ‘eating poorly and at the lowest point of her life’ when she looked the way her fans considered her to be healthy.

‘I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like maybe having an openness or vulnerability, something good might come from it,’ she added. ‘Healthy can look different.’

Ariana has been a vegan for more than a decade, revealing the shift in her diet in 2013 because of her love for animals like dogs, goats and seahorses.

Her trainer said in a 2017 interview with PopSugar that the 31-year-old survives on smoothies, salads, brown rice, tofu and stir-fry vegetables daily.

For snacks, she tends to consume berries — particularly blueberries and strawberries which Ariana said in a tweet last month were her ‘favorite’ and that she had ‘five a day’.

While the star was known for her long eyelashes and dark smokey eyeshadow, she has now adapted a more bare-faced look.

Ariana has discussed how she used to ‘use makeup as a disguise’ when she was younger, she explained that ‘as she gets older,’ she has started to use products to ‘accentuate what is there’ instead.

However, her changing appearance has not been without controversy.

In 2021, Grande was accused of ‘Asian fishing’ (trying to look Asian) as she posted photos displaying rosy cheeks, red lips, pink lids, and winged eyeliner. She later deleted the photos.

People were struck by Ariana’s face in the photos, saying she appeared to be of Asian ethnicity – and they accused her of doing it on purpose, perhaps to appeal more to Asian fans.

The term ‘Asian fishing’ is used to described behavior of someone who is not Asian but tries to look like they are, either with makeup, posing, clothes, or photo-editing.

It is a twist on catfishing, in which people create fake personas and trick people into believing they’re real online.

After Ariana shared the photos, several critics took to social media to accuse her of crafting an East Asian ‘look’ on purpose.

‘Ariana grande asianfishing??? i’m genuinely so upset over this it’s so sickening can she f***ing not??’ wrote one.

In 2019, Ariana was also accused of ‘blackfishing’ after she posed on the front cover of Vogue Magazine.

The then 26-year-old Italian-American singer, who is from Boca Raton, Florida, and has Sicilian and Abruzzese roots, appeared on the August 2019 cover of the publication, donning a more toned-down look than her typical knee-high boots and high-swinging ponytail.

Many pointed out that the star’s complexion appeared darker than her natural skin tone.

One user commented on the photo, saying: ‘Is she black now?’ Another asked ‘when did she become black?’, while a third Instagram user said: ‘Why is she brown?’

‘Noooo, sorry this is not ok,’ another user wrote. ‘Ari does not look like this at all.’

Another user said they were ‘tired of’ Photoshop, as they claimed that Ariana’s skin-tone has been adjusted in the image.

Others said the star needs to ‘chill’ with tanning. ‘Why tf does she look like a woman of color tho? Chill with the tanning Ari,’ one user commented on the photo.

It’s a far cry from her current preparations to play Glinda, for which Ariana has adopted her signature blonde hair and pale skin.