Rules That Ariana Grande's Team Allegedly Has To Follow
No one would say that working with musicians is easy, but working with a pop star of Ariana Grande's stature can be especially challenging. The singer has officially crossed into the realm of not just superstar but true pop diva, thanks to several consecutive hit records and a personal life that has been ripe for tabloid picking. The word "diva" was thrown around long before Grande reached this status, however, and it wasn't exactly meant in a flattering way.
People who worked with Grande earlier in her career have complained about a laundry list of things they had to do to appease the young singer, from avoiding certain angles to specific requirements they must follow when caring for Grande's dogs. By the time her infamous donut-licking made headlines in 2015, it seemed that Grande was developing a difficult reputation. But while these rumors have persisted for years, how many, if any, of them are true?
Ariana insists on being photographed from the left
One of the most frequent reports about Ariana Grande is that she insists on being photographed from the left side, and she and her team are allegedly willing to go to extreme measures to make sure it happens. Guiliana Rancic complained about this in 2014, claiming that Grande forced her to switch positions for her on a red carpet so Grande could be interviewed from her good side.
"'Little Ariana comes over, I feel like 'bing', elbow in my side, I'm like, 'What's going on?' and they push me to the other side," Rancic said (via The Daily Mail), adding, "So I had to be on my ugly side."
Australian outlet the Sydney Morning Herald also claimed in 2014 that Grande was extremely particular about how she was photographed, saying that she decided halfway through a shoot that she didn't like the photos, wanted to change her outfit, and wanted the photos already taken to be destroyed. When the photographer refused, Grande reportedly walked out of the shoot. The Herald also reported that Grande asked that the top of her head not be in the frame during interviews so she looks taller.
Grande denied some of this, saying on 96.3 One the next day, "It was just a photographer who got mad at me because I left to change my outfit mid-photo shoot because I didn't like my top... I was like, 'Oh I'll be right back!' and I came back and he had left."
You can't let Ariana's feet touch the ground
Around the same time that reports of Ariana Grande's stringent rules for photography surfaced, another rumor of diva behavior came to light. Life&Style magazine reported that while rehearsing for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Grande allegedly demanded to be carried by her staff. "Her new rule is that she has to be carried — literally carried like a baby — when she doesn't feel like walking. She says that she doesn't want her precious feet to hit the floor," an anonymous source told the outlet.
Grande did share a photo on Instagram of her being carried by a man in 2014. After the rumor surfaced, she went back to edit the caption, explaining that her feet had been in pain as a result of wearing pointe shoes in the music video for "Don't Be Gone Too Long," a duet with Chris Brown. "Thats my friend griffin carrying me. we were laughing and talking about life on our way to the car... my toes were LITERALLY BLEEDING," she wrote. Grande also made light of this rumor in a segment of Carpool Karaoke with James Corden, prompting him to carry her into Starbucks to order a medium-sized drink.
Ari's dogs only fly private
Ariana Grande is a known animal lover, and if you plan on working with her, you had better plan to treat her dogs like members of the family. Plenty of pop stars, celebrities, and Real Housewives bring their pets with them when they fly on private jets, but Grande is rumored to take her puppy love to a whole other level.
In 2018, The Sun reported that Grande's dogs Toulouse and Myron flew to the United Kingdom on their own private jet along with Grande's staff, so that they would be waiting at her accommodations when she got there. The dogs even allegedly had their own bedroom in Grande's penthouse suite, the price of which was about £2,500 per night. The reason? Grande's dogs reportedly help her anxiety, and she wanted to be immediately comfortable when she checked into her hotel, The Sun's source claimed.
Grande hasn't officially confirmed or denied this, but given how open she's been about her struggles with anxiety and the affection she regularly shows towards her pets, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched. "I make sure they all feel loved and wanted," Grande said about her animals, explaining that they have helped her anxiety in the past, per The Sun. "They know what mood you are in and how to change it."