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Ariana Grande has been notably thin for a long time, but the online reaction to the star’s latest music video was especially concerning this week.
After Grande released the video for “Petal,” the title track of her most recent album, fans were not focused on the revenge-themed storyline of the ’60s-set film. Instead, they fixated on Grande’s skeletal frame, which is draped in era-appropriate fashions.
“I can’t even enjoy the video without thinking she looks sickly every second she is on the screen,” one person wrote on YouTube.
“At this point, I’m [sic] judging her team, friends, and family,” the top commenter wrote.
“She’s surrounded by enablers,” another wrote. “Eating disorders are not a joke.”
These comments were not isolated incidents. The entire YouTube comment section was obsessed with Grande’s body rather than the music video itself, which is a lovely torch song about self-love.
Ariana Grande appears to be celebrating her body in the lyrics, comparing herself to a “petal in the pavement.” But the effect is the opposite – the video makes Grande’s apparent lack of body mass look like a weakness.
Ariana Grande Body Image Sparks Online Backlash
Ariana Grande’s team responded to the criticism by saying the singer would be “taking a step back from visibility” after her recent tour, claiming she was “both healthily and happily” while blaming “endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”
Grande’s team also announced she would be canceling her appearance in the West End’s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George” alongside her “Wicked” co-star Jonathan Bailey.
This comes after Grande publicly criticized fans for “being gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies.”
Jameela Jamil Weighs In on the Ariana Grande Debate
In response to Grande’s cancellations, actress Jameela Jamil shared an Instagram story criticizing Grande’s team for their comments. Jamil, who has spoken publicly about her own struggles with an eating disorder, argued that Grande’s fans – “many who have no support system equipped to handle the deadly clutches of anorexia” – would be negatively influenced by the singer’s “self-abusive” comments.
Jamil later defended her comments on Twitter, arguing that the online harassment of Grande was “not helping” because of the “young girls” who would see it. “We don’t have to pretend we are blind because it’s a pop star.”
Jamil is right to criticize Grande’s team, but her comments could also be seen as hypocritical. The culture war around women’s bodies has only intensified in recent years, as MAGA and MAHA influencers have weaponized thinness as a way to score political points.
The right has become increasingly obsessed with the idea that women should not only be thin but also look sickly. Conservatives are not just “anti-fat,” as they used to be a few years ago.
They also believe women should not gain muscle, which is seen as “unfeminine” and “hypergynic.” Instead, women and girls are supposed to look like they have been starved – which is why influencers who promote anorexia and bulimia are so popular with right-wing celebrities.
This fixation on women’s bodies has been amplified by the rise of the GLP-1 appetite suppressant, which has made it easier for people to lose weight – and for influencers to monetize their starvation.
How SkinnyTok Turned Body Image Into a Political Issue
On TikTok, the obsession with extreme thinness has been dubbed “SkinnyTok,” as influencers such as Liv Schmidt promote a dieting culture that prioritizes being underweight over being healthy.
While most of these influencers do not overtly express right-wing views, the content they create has been found to have “tradwife” undertones, according to a recent article in The Atlantic.
After visiting the SkinnyTok space for the first time, writer Annie Joy Williams found that the “tradwife content began to sneak in” to her TikTok feed after she began watching content about extreme thinness.
Williams spoke with experts about this phenomenon, who explained that right-wing influencers often use “diet culture” to lure in new viewers, who then get radicalized and begin watching more overtly conservative content.
The Rise of ‘Tradwife’ Beauty Standards
This is especially evident in the way that Evie Magazine, a far-right Christian magazine that apes the style of traditional women’s magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan, has embraced SkinnyTok influencers.
In 2025, the magazine featured Liv Schmidt in an article that praised the influencer for sharing her “truth” with her followers. Schmidt’s fans are promised that they will achieve romantic and professional success if they follow her “low-calorie” diet and exercise plan.
In an article about Schmidt’s online community, Skinni Société, writer Carmen Schober does not mention the anorexia and orthorexia that many members discuss in their social media posts. Schober also praises “skinny queen” Amanda Dobler for “not apologizing” to her followers for encouraging them to avoid “wasabi and soy sauce,” which Schmidt claims to be “empty calories.”
When I bought a physical copy of Evie Magazine in May, I was surprised to find that it not only promotes extreme thinness but also discourages women from exercising in ways that make them look strong.
The magazine tells women to avoid working out their “quads, hamstrings, and thighs” because it will “alienate men.” It also discourages women from doing cardio, falsely claiming that it will “throw your hormones off.”
The magazine even claims that women who are a “sample size” look best in everything, implying that anything else will disappoint a man and lead to divorce.
Political Messaging Around Women’s Fitness
This disdain for women who exercise has been amplified by the MAGA movement’s insistence that working out is a “man’s job.” Presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth often post workout videos on social media platforms promoting the idea that one who exercises is a man while at the same time telling women they should not stay away from the gym.
Although it is usually not their intention to leave the door shut for women, the absence of women or their bodies in these workout videos stands out to the point of being noticeable even to a person not specially trained to observe it if they happen to watch more than a couple of such videos.
Pilates Becomes the Ideal Body Trend
There is one type of exercise that right-wing influencers such as Evie Magazine endorse for women: Pilates. This low-impact workout, which is similar to yoga, has been praised by right-wing influencers for being “feminine” and “not too sweaty.”
The 19th recently reported that the far-right has jumped on the bandwagon of the “Pilates girl” trend, which promotes Pilates as the ideal workout for women. The goal of this trend is to avoid the “toxic” culture of bodybuilding and other sweaty sports.
As a bonus, some right-wing influencers claim that there are no men in Pilates classes, which is a lie that is meant to protect the egos of men who do not want their wives or girlfriends to talk to other men.
Any woman who has tried Pilates knows that it is not an intense workout – if you want to look like a “Pilates girl,” you will need to starve yourself in addition to exercising.
Why Ariana Grande Body Image Matters Beyond Celebrity Culture
The Body Image Issue of Ariana Grande Should Be of Concern to More Than Just the Celebrity Culture. Ariana Grande is known to be one of the most forward-thinking celebrities with regard to women’s liberation.
Consequently, her public remarks about her body image were twisted by right-wing personalities to encourage people to develop anorexia, a disorder characterized by the refusal to maintain a healthy weight.
Grande has been having a body image struggle over the years, and she is open to fans not commenting on her looks anymore, but as Jameela Jamil noted in her Instagram story, the entire way women’s bodies are perceived is very poisonous and has to be changed.
Making slim to the bone look glamorous in real life has serious effects for women and girls because when they see influencers with anorexia starving on camera, they are more likely to develop eating disorders. Disorders can be life-threatening diseases, which often cause individuals to be admitted to a hospital.
It is not an easy matter for women to have a balanced body image. In fact, society dictates it as “woke” to take care of oneself. Now, the women who just want to live healthy lives are being dubbed as “anti-American” by far-right influencers.
