Ariana Grande Advocates For ‘Mandatory Therapy’ & Safer Environments For Child Actors While Breaking Silence On Nickelodeon Abuse Allegations

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande Advocates For ‘Mandatory Therapy’ & Safer Environments For Child Actors While Breaking Silence On Nickelodeon Abuse Allegations

Superstar singer/actress Ariana Grande is opening up for the first time about the controversial Quiet on Set docuseries.

The 30-year-old shared her complicated feelings about child stardom and expressed her ultimate belief that studios need to do more to ensure the safety of young entertainers.

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande spoke about the matter during a recent episode of “You” star Penn Badgley’s podcast Podcrushed, published earlier today (Wednesday, June 11th). Giving her thoughts about the protection of child stars, Ariana Grande stated:

“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age, but also dealing with some of the things that the survivors who have come forward…there’s not a word for how devastating that is to hear.” 

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i completely agree with everything she said. #arianagrande #arianator #eternalsunshine

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She continued:

“I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists, I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they want to be…I think if anyone wants to do this or music or anything at any level of exposure that it means to be on TV or to do music with a major label or whatever, there should be in the contract something about ‘therapy is mandatory twice a week’…or something like that.”

Grande went on to reflect on her own experience starring on Nickelodeon shows created by producer Dan Schneider, whose alleged sexually and racially abusive nature was highlighted throughout the Quiet on Set docuseries. As previously covered, the former Nickelodeon exec was accused of being sexually inappropriate with underage actors on and off screen, on numerous occasions, while leading hit series for the network such as All That, The Amanda Show and Zoey 101.

Two other shows created by Schneider, Victorious as well as a spinoff  Sam & Cat, starred Grande herself. In the recent interview, she went on to share that looking back on some of the performances she realizes how the cast was taken advantage of and encouraged to “push the envelope” with their humor, stating:

“[there’s] a strange pattern that occurs where it’s really taking advantage of how much it means to the young performer to get a laugh from the Video Village….You’re like, ‘Oh s**t, I’m doing something great. Like, this is funny, this is good.’” 

“And the innuendos were like, we were told and convinced as well that it was the cool differentiation.  And I don’t know, I think it all just happened so quickly and now looking back on some of the clips I’m like, ‘That’s… d*mn, really?’”

The Wicked star reiterated her thoughts about mandatory therapy at a certain level of exposure and explained the importance of having a close, trusted confidant in the industry.

You can watch the full interview below!

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