Ariana Grande says she’s healthy, but for many women her image is a painful reminder of a toxic era

August 4, 2026 — 7:00pm

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A few years ago when I was visiting my mother’s house and going through boxes of things from my childhood, I came across a planner I’d had in high school.

Scattered throughout the pages, pasted next to reminders of assignments and appointments at my orthodontist written in glitter pen were photos of a celebrity who, during that particular year in the mid-2000s, was constantly on the cover of tabloid magazines due to her weight.

I leafed through the pages of the diary, looking for an image that was still imprinted in my brain almost two decades later: two photos of the same celebrity in a bikini, taken months apart, published side-by-side with arrows pointing to specific parts of her body with accompanying text explaining how her frame had changed and which areas the weight had dropped from.

When pop star Ariana Grande’s representatives issued a statement this week announcing she would step back from public life at the end of her current tour due to “endless, ongoing public scrutiny”, it came after months of speculation about her health, and a growing concern about the risk her gaunt appearance poses to her millions of young and impressionable fans.

Immediately, I thought about the picture in my high school planner and how, as an impressionable........

© The Age