Content warning: This story discusses child sexual abuse and sexual harassment, among other potentially disturbing topics.
Ariana Grande opened up about “reprocessing” her experience working as a child star on Nickelodeon in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, inappropriate behavior, and abuse that have come to light against those within the network in the documentary, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
After performing on Broadway as a child, Grande's career kicked into high gear when she landed roles on the Nickelodeon shows Victorious, and Sam & Cat starting at age 14. In a recent wide-ranging interview with Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari on their podcast, Podcrushed, Grande opened up on her time with Nickelodeon and the allegations that she called “devastating.”
“We were young performers who just wanted to do this with our lives more than anything and we got to," Grande said. “I think we had some very special memories and we feel so privileged to have been able to create those roles and be part of something that was so special for a lot of young kids. I think we're reprocessing our relationship to it a little bit now.”
Ariana Grande's comments come nearly three months after Quiet on Set was released and exposed the “open secret” that Dan Schneider, a powerful producer and showrunner behind some of Nickelodeon's most popular shows, allegedly fostered an abusive environment and was described as being “volatile” and having inappropriate relationships to some of the actors on set. One of the biggest bombshells to come from the series was Drake Bell publicly speaking out about being repeatedly sexually abused by Nickelodeon acting coach Brian Peck. Peck pleaded no contest to two charges of sexual abuse and was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
The docuseries also highlighted some of the inappropriate content that often appeared in Schneider-led shows — including Victorious. The docuseries showed a myriad of clips that contained sexual innuendos, including one of Grande pouring water on herself. Grande said that certain innuendos on Victorious specifically were sold to the actors as “the cool differentiation” from other children's shows.
“We were convinced that was the cool thing about us," she said "We pushed the envelope with our humor.”
The Podcrushed hosts pointed out that the "craziest part" about those clips is that they had to be approved by multiple adults before they went to air. Grande then said that “the things that weren't approved for the network were snuck onto like, our website.”
“That is another discovery,” she continued.
When discussing protecting child actors and how the industry should move forward, Grande said that there needs to be better protections in place.
“I think that the environment needs to be made safer,” Grande said. "I think there should be therapists. I think there should be parents allowed to be wherever they want to be.”
The singer and actor also spoke about child actors not always having “the support” that they need to handle that level of fame at such a young age, along with the abuse that some endured while working.
“So I think the environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around. And like I said, I'm still in real-time reprocessing my relationship to it.”
Watch the full interview here:
