Is Ariana Grande Really a Diva? Let's Investigate

In late August, a blog post by Daniel O'Connor made headlines when he described a negative experience he and his daughters had when meeting Ariana during a special fan contest in connection with the MTV VMAs. Daniel's daughter had a won a special fan-art contest, and the family was given a chance to meet with Ariana backstage at the VMAs. According to Daniel, Ariana was rude to his daughters, refusing to make small talk and not even asking them their names. He also claims that Ariana made his daughters delete photos they had taken of themselves handing their winning fan art to her. Later, after the post went viral, a different fan shared an alleged DM conversation with Ariana over Twitter, where she claimed she only walked away from them because the art featured her late grandfather and she "didn't want them to see [her] cry." She also claimed she had written a letter to the fans but MTV said it had no way of giving it to them. Daniel later admitted that the fan art did include a picture of Ariana's grandfather but that her bad behavior had started before she saw it.

Unfortunately, this is one of those he-said, she-said cases where it's really hard to know the truth. Ariana is notoriously sensitive about the subject of her late grandfather, so it could be true that she was genuinely upset. It's just one of those cases you hope was a mix of miscommunication and bad timing, and not the sign of a bigger problem.

Ariana's most famous feud has to be her tense relationship with her former Sam & Cat costar Jennette McCurdy. The two starred in Nickelodeon's wildly popular iCarly and Victorious spinoff, but rumors of behind-the-scenes drama plagued the show during its first season, and it was eventually sent on "hiatus" before wrapping up its first 40-episode run. The beef reportedly started due to the fact that Jennette was upset that Ariana was getting paid more than her. (To be fair, Ariana was and still is the bigger star.) That, coupled with Ariana's then-blossoming music career, led to fighting and a lot of thinly veiled subtweets from Jennette about Ariana.

While there is some undeniable drama between Jennette and Ariana, placing the blame solely on Ariana would be unfair, especially when you look at Jennette's really unprofessional behavior after the show was canceled. (Jennette made a web series, What's Next For Sarah, with an annoying character called "Gloriana.") Ariana shouldn't have to apologize for her career success or her higher salary — she was a major part of the draw for Sam & Cat, and as in most professions, bosses tend to adjust salaries according to how much of an asset they think their worker is to their team. In Hollywood, being a recognizable name is a big asset.

Much has been made of a claim that Ariana prefers to be seen from her left side. An Australian news outlet claims that Ariana's team had asked photographers to only shoot her from her left side, and a recent interview went viral after Ariana continued to awkwardly turn away from the interviewers to show her left side to the cameras. (Watch the video above.) While there has been no confirmation that Ariana does demand to only be seen from the left, it is pretty difficult to find a noncandid photo of her that wasn't shot from her favorite side. Meanwhile, the interview does appear a bit odd, but Ariana could have been distracted by something else off camera. Even if her "good side" demands are true, is it really that bad of a thing? A lot of celebrities prefer to be shot from a certain angle, although most would arrange to have their preferred angle perfectly featured before they started an interview. If anything, this is admittedly weird but just normal star behavior.

The same Australian news outlet that reported about Ariana being an alleged diva about her left side also revealed the list of questions that Ariana's team had instructed them to not ask her. This included questions about her love life, working with Justin Bieber, her grandfather's passing, and anything having to do with Mariah Carey (whom she is frequently compared to) or Jennette McCurdy (which we've already gone over). Generally, in the world of entertainment, a list of no-no questions from interview subjects is fairly common, particularly when they have to do with personal stuff or subjects that might touch a nerve. It's not the most ideal situation, but it does happen, so it's not exactly the sign of a diva.