DAVID CROTTY/PATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY
Ariana Grande has weighed in on the disturbing allegations featured in the recent documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV”. In a revealing interview on the “Podcrushed” podcast, Grande reflected on her experience as a teenage star on popular Nickelodeon shows like “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat”.
Grande, now 29, said she has been “reprocessing a lot” from her time on the network as a 14-year-old. She joined hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari to candidly discuss the documentary’s claims of inappropriate behavior, lack of safety precautions, and exploitation involving underage actors.
“Hearing the survivors’ stories was absolutely devastating,” Grande told the podcast. “I’ve been reprocessing a lot of what the experience was like.” She said she now questions some sexual implications in storylines and jokes that were normalized on her shows.
Grande emphasized the need for better protection of child stars. ““I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists,” she urged. This comes after claims that the presence of parents was heavily restricted during her Nickelodeon years.
The “Thank U, Next” singer also called out the network for allowing inappropriate clips to air online that were cut from televised episodes. “I think the environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around. Like I said, I’m still, in real-time, reprocessing my relationship to it” Grande concluded.
