Ariana Grande has revealed that a small detail in the upcoming Wicked film was “very emotional” for father Edward Butera – and even left him in tears.
The 31-year-old singer is currently on the promotional tour for the highly anticipated film, alongside her co-star Cynthia Erivo, and has certainly been teary-eyed, with both actresses even apologizing for crying so much.
And their joint interview with Entertainment tonight It was no different as Ariana was stunned when the journalist mentioned the credits at the end of the film and confirmed that the pop star’s full name, Ariana Grande-Butera, appears on the list.
‘What was your dad’s reaction when he found out that Butera made it?’ they asked as Ariana became visibly emotional and responded: ‘Oh man, she cried! And you know, that was my name when I first saw Wicked.
And I feel, not to sound like a broken record, that this role and this project helped me get home to little Ari. And maybe little pieces of her were lost along the way in this crazy industry.
Ariana Grande nearly broke down while talking about her father in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight.
Ariana photographed in January 2020 with her father Edward Butera and mother Joan Grande.
She continued, “And I’m so grateful for the way this experience brought me back, so I just wanted to capture that… it happened so randomly.”
He then turned to Cynthia, 37, who was squeezing his hand and said: ‘Do you remember I texted you? I said, “I haven’t told anyone, but I think I’m doing this,” and she said, “Shit.”
Referring to the film’s director, Jon M. Chu, Ariana recalled, “And my dad cried, I surprised him.” Jon was so generous that he sent me, before he was supposed to send me, sorry Universal, the cat is out of the bag, he sent me the credits.
“Because he knew people would start seeing it soon and he was afraid that someone would talk about it before he could see it,” the Into You hitmaker explained.
“So I opened it up on my laptop, secretly recorded it, and told him I wanted to show him the font for the credits, because he’s a graphic designer and he loves that stuff.
“Anyway, it was a big surprise and he cried, it was very emotional,” Ariana added as Cynthia smiled and nodded next to her.
This week, both women apologized for being so emotional on the promotional tour for the film, which opens the same day as Gladiator II and has been dubbed the new Barbenheimer.
‘We have cried 500 times today. And honestly, this is a public service announcement. “I’m so sorry guys,” Ariana was heard saying in a give-and-take with Cynthia in a video shared by MY! News.
The pop star revealed that her father Edward cried when he realized his full name appears in the credits at the end of Wicked.
Ariana plays the role of Galinda Upland while Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp.
“It is what it is,” added his British-born co-star. “There’s just nothing we can do about it.”
Ariana chimed in again: ‘I can’t imagine it, and you know what? If you’re going to comment saying how annoying it is, I’ll say that first.
‘I said it first. I’m upset. I’m tired. My tear ducts… I’m tired, emotionally tired,” she joked as Cynthia added, “We’ve gotten through something huge, huge and we’ve really stuck together.”
Along with the two women, the film’s cast also includes Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey and Ariana’s boyfriend Ethan Slater.