Ariana Grande recently opened up about her time on Nickelodeon, saying she is “reprocessing” it all and calling for a safer environment for kid stars.
Variety reports that the star was recently on the Podcrushed podcast. Her ties to Nick run deep as she starred in Victorious, which aired for four seasons between 2010 and 2013. Additionally, she had a 35-episode run as Cat Valentine in Sam & Cat. During her time at the network, she was a young teenager.
Ariana Grande reflects on her time at Nickelodeon
The reflection came to light after the recent ID doc Quiet on Set, which showcased abuse and neglect at the network. Dan Schneider, creator of Victorious, was a central theme of the documentary, which showed alleged inappropriate behavior from the showrunner. That said, he was not brought up in the podcast by shame, but it seems clear the topic emerged due to many allegations that surfaced due to the interviews and more from the ID series.
“I was 14, and I flew out to audition with Liz Gillies for Victorious, and we were all very excited, and we got cast, and it was the best news we could hear,” the Grammy winner stated. “We were young performers who just wanted to do this with our lives more than anything, and we got to and that was so beautiful. I think we had some very special memories, and we felt so privileged to have been able to create those roles and be a part of something that was so special for a lot of young kids.”
Though it was an amazing experience, Grande feels things can be improved for kids in the industry.
“I think the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting, and I think there should be therapists,” she added. “I think parents should allowed to be wherever they want to be, and I think not only on kids' sets. If anyone wants to do this, or music, or anything at this level of exposure, there should be in the contract something about therapy is mandatory twice a week or thrice a week, or something like that.”
Also, she addressed some of the innuendos in Victorious and how they were aware of them but didn't think too much into it.
“Specifically about our show, I think that was something that we were convinced was the cool thing about us — is that we pushed the envelope with our humor,” she noted. “And the innuendos were…it was like the cool differentiation. And I don't know, I think it just all happened so quickly, and now looking back on some of the clips, I'm like, ‘Damn, really? Oh shit'…and the things that weren't approved for the network were snuck on to like our website or whatever.”
“I guess I'm upset, yeah,” the star added.
With Ariana Grande addressing child stars and documentaries like Quiet On Set, hopefully, some major changes will occur in the industry.