Ariana Grande Explained Why She Chose Her Full Name for Wicked ...
If you are a fan of Ariana Grande and you have been on the internet these past few days, you've probably come across news that Grande has chosen her full name, Ariana Grande-Butera, to be shown during the Wicked movie credits — and now she's explaining exactly why.
In a new interview with Australian reporter Justin Hill during the Sydney stop of the Journey Through Oz press tour, the star was asked about her decision to be credited with her full name for the project, and her reason was as emotional as fans anticipated.
“I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me," Grande began explaining. "I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda [and] from Elphaba. [Ariana Grande-Butera] was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old, and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that. It felt really full circle, and it just felt like something I wanted to do.”
You can watch the moment below:
Ariana Grande's love story with Wicked is well-documented. As she herself alluded to during the aforementioned interview, the show has been a major part of her life since she discovered it at 10, and she's never shied away from letting the world know.
In the past, Grande referred to the day she found out she got the role of Glinda as “the best day of [her] life.” In fact, Grande loves Wicked and Glinda so much that The Good Witch is now always with her thanks to the tattoo on her hand.
Grande's decision to be credited with her full name for Wicked also makes sense, as she previously opened up about having to create a completely new persona to tap into her full potential as an actor for the role.
“I trained every single day to prove to [Wicked producers] that I could handle taking on this other person," Grande explained in a previous interview. "I had to completely erase popstar Ari, the person they know so well, because it’s harder to believe someone as someone else because they’re so branded as one thing. I had to really go all the way to strip that down.”
The first Wicked movie hits theaters worldwide on November 22, so grab your tickets and get ready to see Ariana Grande-Butera in all her glory!
