Find yourself bopping along to Yes, And on repeat? Are you intrigued by her lustrous ponytail? Heck, do you know each and every Ariana lyric as if it was written by you?
Yes? Cool, you’re one of the dainty diva’s true fans!
But! It actually takes a lot more to be dubbed an “Arianator,” and that includes knowing the ins and outs of the Thank U, Next singer’s life.
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Being an Arianator means knowing every bit of trivia about Ariana from her first-ever crush to the names of her dogs.
Want to determine if you’re a true fan of the popular star? How many of these facts about Ariana Grande do you know?
1. Ariana’s Hair Isn’t Naturally Straight
She may wear the same signature hairstyle all the time, but did you know Ariana’s natural hair is in fact, curly? Check out how different she looks with her natural curls – not a ponytail in sight!
2. She Has Mediterranean Blood
Ever wondered what Ariana’s nationality is? She got her big brown eyes and beautiful dark curls from her Italian ancestry.
The Dangerous Woman is half-Sicilian and half-Abruzzese, although she was born and raised in Florida. We would love to hear her talk, or even better, sing in Italian! Who’s with me?
3. Her Name Was Inspired By ‘Felix the Cat’
This may be one of the coolest facts about Ariana Grande…The name ‘Ariana’ wasn’t just a random choice for her parents. Joan Grande and Ed Butera were inspired by the name ‘Princess Oriana’ from the animation, Felix the Cat, and so they decided to name their daughter after this character.
Ironically, Ariana is actually allergic to cats. Oh and bananas.
4. Ariana’s Hobbies are Pretty Normal
Ever wondered what Ariana Grande likes doing in her spare time? Well, she’s a pretty regular girl, like you and I.
The artist has expressed her love for a game of Monopoly, and she’s told Allure that she enjoys a “long bath.” Other than that, Ariana likes “going on drives, looking for Pokémon, going to cute movies, and making music.”
5. She Has a Showbiz Sibling
You might have seen this guy around quite a bit. Well, that’s because he’s Ariana’s brother. Frankie Grande is the star’s older half-brother and he is a musical theater actor and producer. We guess showbiz really does run in the family…
6. Her Parents are Successful Business People
Indeed, success truly does run deep in the Grande family. Ari’s mother, Joan Grande is the CEO of Hose-McCann Communications, a manufacturer of communications and safety equipment, while her father, Edward Butera owns a graphic design business in Boca Raton.
7. Ariana Has Nine Dogs
If you follow Ari on social media, you’ve probably had the honor of seeing her cute canine companions. Ariana’s pets include nine dogs named Coco, Toulouse, Cinnamon, Strauss, Lafayette, Pignoli, Myron, Lily and Snape.
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Yes, that’s right, she has named some of her doggies after Harry Potter characters, because she’s a huge fan. Bonus fun fact? Ariana also has a pet pig named Piggy Smalls!
8. She Was Once a YouTube Star
Before her days as a superstar, Ariana’s childhood was spent on YouTube. The Positions starlet used to cover several famous songs including If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys and If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé.
9. Ariana Has Dated Many Famous Guys
She may be a busy bee, releasing music and being an incredible actress, but aside from work, Ari has had plenty of time for boyfriends.
Ariana’s dating history includes the likes of Mac Miller, Nathan Sykes, Big Sean and Jai Brooks. She was briefly engaged to Pete Davidson, married to Dalton Gomez, and is now dating Ethan Slater.
10. Her First-Ever Crush Was Justin Timberlake
Despite her many real-life boyfriends, Ariana’s first ever crush was…wait for it…Justin Timberlake! It seems we have more in common with Ari than we thought! It was pretty hard not to fall for Justin’s cute curls in the 90’s, though.
11. She Opened Shows for Justin Bieber
Talking of Justin – Ariana and Justin Bieber’s adorable relationship started all the way back in 2013 when she used to open for his U.S. tour. Before the release of Yours Truly, Ari tried to get her name and music out there as much as possible, and what better way than to do it at Bieber’s Believe tour?
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12. Ariana is Vegan
In 2013, Ariana tweeted that she was going “100% vegan.” She told The Mirror, “I love animals more than I love most people, not kidding. But I am a firm believer in eating a full plant-based, whole food diet that can expand your life length and make you an all-around happier person.”
13. She is Hypoglycemic
Here’s some trivia you probably didn’t know about the star – Ariana is hypoglycemic. That means her blood sugar gets low and she has to eat something to help overcome it. We guess even Ariana has to battle health issues from time to time…
14. She’s Inspired By Marilyn Monroe
Here’s an interesting Ariana Grande fact! While many admire the Kardashians or Beyoncé, Ari is instead inspired by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. You’d think Ariana was from a different era when it comes to her fashion icons, right?
15. Ariana is a Talented Impersonator
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, she’s a girl of many talents. Not only can Ariana sing and act like a pro, but she can also make brilliant impersonations. From Britney Spears, to Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Ariana has wowed all with her incredible impressions. You can watch them by hitting the link below:
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16. She Was Caught Licking Donuts In a Store
Ariana isn’t one to be regularly caught up in shocking scandals. And the one time she was, it wasn’t pretty.
The popstar, slandered for her rude behavior at the time, was once videotaped licking donuts in a food store and being disrespectful to the cashiers. The incident was so controversial, Ariana had to apologize to fans for her shocking behavior.
17. Ariana’s Favorite Color is Lavender
Not pink, not purple…but lavender. Indeed, Ariana’s favorite color is the light pinkish-purple shade. There’s no surprise, tbh, because she has famously dyed her hair lavender in the past, and even her ‘R.E.M.’ perfume has middle notes of a lavender scent.
18. Her Mom Thought She’d Be a Serial Killer
As a child, Ariana was obsessed with horror movies. She would even wear scary movie masks around the house!
To be exact, she enjoyed having her face painted as a skeleton and roaming the streets with a hockey stick, donning Freddy Krueger’s mask. It was so terrifying, Ariana’s mother thought she’d grow up to become a serial killer. LOL!
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19. She’s a Nickelodeon Star
Some of you were only introduced to Ariana when she debuted her single, The Way back in 2013. But in actual fact, she was well-known long before that – to Nickelodeon fans, of course.
The Love Me Harder starlet played Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon TV sitcom, Victorious, and later reprised the role on the spin-off, Sam & Cat.
20. Gloria Estefan Predicted Ariana Would Be a Star
One particular person who saw the superstar in Ariana was the legendary Gloria Estefan. After watching her on Nickelodeon, Gloria told Ariana that she’ll make it big one day. Of course, she predicted that correctly. Can we get Ms. Estefan as a coach on The Voice, please?
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21. Her First Single Wasn’t ‘The Way’
If you thought Ariana’s first song was The Way, you’re totally mistaken. As a matter of fact, the popstar released a single in 2011 titled Put Your Hearts Up, which even had an accompanying music video.
Dubbing it “inauthentic,” “fake,” and “straight out of hell,” Ari disliked the song so much to the point where she had it pulled from VeVo. It’s actually not as bad as it sounds…
22. Ariana Raised Over £2 Million for the Manchester Attack
On May 22nd 2017, a suicide bombing occurred outside Ariana’s Dangerous Woman concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people and leaving dozens wounded.
Ari, being the angel that she is, offered to pay for the victims’ funerals, visited the injured in hospital, and arranged a benefit concert that successfully raised more than £2 million for the victims.
23. Ariana Suffers From Hair Loss
You may be tired of seeing Ariana wear the same old ponytail, but there’s actually a reason why she always wears this signature style – to hide hair loss. When she starred in the TV show Victorious, Ariana was forced to dye her hair red on almost a weekly basis for an astonishing four years.
“I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat…that completely destroyed my hair…I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken,” she wrote on Facebook.
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24. She Has Bad Eyesight
Along with hair loss, Ariana also suffers from bad eyesight, which means she has to wear contact lenses – and sometimes glasses. Remember her interview on The Tonight Show in 2015? Now you know why she was squinting so hard.
In fact, she squints so often that fans have called her the “queen of squinting.” Low-key, we think she might need new lenses…
25. She Suffers from Anxiety
Ever since the tragic Manchester Attack, Ariana has admitted that she suffers from PTSD and anxiety. In fact, she was so torn up after the event, that she was forced to postpone her tour in 2017.
“When I got home from tour, I had really wild dizzy spells, this feeling like I couldn’t breathe,” Grande told Elle magazine. The Sweetener singer has been open about her battle with mental health and has even released a song dedicated to fighting anxiety called Breathin’.
26. People Think Ariana’s Had Plastic Surgery
Ari’s face has changed so much to the point where people have slammed her for getting plastic surgery. Although Ariana’s before and after photos are drastically different and her nose has considerably shrunk, there’s been no confirmation that she’s gone under the knife. However, the star has opened up about getting minor cosmetic procedures: “Full transparency…I’ve had a ton of lip filler over the years and Botox,” she told Vogue.
27…But She Has Admitted to Getting Botox
If there’s one cosmetic treatment that Ariana admits to, it’s Botox and lip fillers. In a video with Vogue, she disclosed that she has had “a ton of lip filler over the years, and Botox.”
However, she stopped in 2018, because she felt it was “too much” and now wants to see her “well-earned cry lines and smile lines,” because “ageing can be such a beautiful thing.”
28. Antidepressants and Alcohol Affected her Weight
When she started receiving comments on her weight loss in 2023, Ariana called on fans to stop body shaming. In a video on TikTok she explained,
“I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”
“The second thing is, you never know what someone is going through…You never know. So be gentle with each other and with yourselves.”
29. She’s One of the Most Successful on Spotify
As one of the best-selling female artists of all time, these facts about Ariana’s music career come as no surprise. In 2019, she was the most-followed woman on Instagram; and in 2021, she was the most streamed female artist on Spotify.
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30. Ari Has Over 60 Tattoos
Ariana’s certainly a fan of getting inked! Believe it or not, as of 2024, she has a total of 61 tattoos on her body (including one tattoo gone wrong)!
Ari has “Bellissima” on her ribs – a name given to her by her late grandfather. She also has “Honeymoon” on her fingers, dedicated to her single, and she got a “8418” tattoo on her ankle to honor her ex, Pete Davidson’s father who was a firefighter during 9/11.
31. Ariana Constantly Curses
This fun fact about Ariana makes us love her even more! If you’ve watched any of Ariana’s interviews or follow her on social media, you would have noticed that she uses the F-word A LOT. The dainty diva has even admitted that she curses a great deal, calling herself a “sailor mouth.”
32. She’s Often Compared to Mariah Carey
There’s a reason why many say Ariana Grande is the “new Mariah Carey.” She has a four octave light lyric soprano vocal range and she can slay those high notes and Mariah’s signature whistle tone to a T!
33. She Remembers the First Song She Ever Sang
We can’t remember what we did yesterday, let alone the first song we ever sang! Well, Ariana is one of God’s favorites, so she has a vivid memory, unlike us.
In a 2012 interview, the star said that Somewhere Over the Rainbow is the first song she remembers singing. Here she is singing that very song decades later…
34….But She Can’t Recall Recording ‘Thank U, Next’
Ariana might remember the first song she ever sang, but she’s admitted to being unable to recall her recording sessions for her album Thank U, Next.
She told Vogue, “Memories of the sessions that led to the “Thank U, Next” album are blurry at best…But if I’m completely honest, I don’t remember those months of my life because I was (a) so drunk and (b) so sad.”
35. Ari Quit the Catholic Church Over LGBTQ Rights
In 2014, Ariana revealed that she quit the Catholic church over LGBTQ rights. The tough decision came after her brother, Frankie was told that “God didn’t love him” by the church.
In defense of her brother, the singer walked away from the religion and chose to follow Kabbalah instead.
36. She Started Her Career In Musical Theater
Did you know Ariana kicked-off her music career by being on stage? Her childhood featured a lot of Broadway performances. Ari starred as “Annie;” and she also featured in The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast.
By the time she was 14, Ariana was ready to release an R&B album but was told, “Um, that’s a helluva goal! Who is going to buy a 14-year-old’s R&B album?!” Turns out, she had to wait five years to finally become a solo star.
37. Ariana Only Likes The “Left Side of Her Face”
Here’s the thing about Ariana Grande – she’s a true diva. She’s known to have a list of demands including only shooting from the left side of her face. Apparently it’s the angle she prefers. A diva’s gotta do what a diva’s gotta do…
38. She Prefers Her Fans To Be Named “Loves”
A lot of you may call yourselves “Arianators,” but in actual fact, Ariana prefers to call her fans “loves”. You’ll notice that on her Twitter page…
39. Her Music Videos Are Inspired by Other Singers
Most of Ariana’s music videos are amazing indeed, but did you know some of them are inspired by other famous singers?
The Break Free clip has been directly compared to Britney Spears’ Oops I Did It Again video, while Santa Tell Me seems to be inspired by Beyoncé’s 7/11 visuals. Even Ari’s clip for Yes, And? has been confirmed to reference Paula Abdul’s 1988 clip for Cold Hearted.
40. Fake Nude Photos of Her Leaked
In 2014, fake nude photos of the artist circulated on social media. The snaps of Ari allegedly posing nude were immediately dismissed by the singer – “It is invasive, but at least it wasn’t me. I don’t take pictures like that. I swear I don’t. I promise.”
Well, there you have it, folks. Stop scanning the web for Ari’s sexy selfies. They’re nowhere to be found…except maybe on Ethan Slater’s phone…
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So, how much of this trivia did you already know?
If you knew all of these facts about Ariana Grande, consider yourself a true Arianator! In fact, you deserve one of these awesome Ariana gifts!
Originally published in May 2016.
