Cliff Notes – Inside Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s everlasting friendship after matching tattoos
- Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande formed a deep bond during their initial meeting in November 2021, sharing personal conversations and laughter that established a ‘safe space’ for each other.
- The duo celebrated their friendship with matching ‘For Good’ tattoos, symbolising their connection and the emotional themes of the musical, which they both star in.
- Their friendship has been highlighted throughout the press tour for Wicked: For Good, showcasing their supportive dynamic and emotional moments, despite Ariana’s absence from the film’s world premiere.
Inside Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s everlasting friendship after matching tattoos
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s friendship is for good (Picture: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
We’re still holding space for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s friendship as the second Wicked film finally reaches cinemas.
Fans were captivated by their dynamic on the press tour in 2024, for the first part of this musical phenomenon.
‘Happy wicked month @wickedmovie ♡ 20 days,’ Ariana wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo dump from behind the scenes of Wicked For Good.
In the post, Ariana showed off the duo’s matching ‘For Good’ tattoos, which they have on their hands in a minimalist font.
For Good is not only the name of Wicked Part Two but an emotional song from the musical about friendship and being ‘changed for the better’ because of that person.
From viral finger-holding memes to tearful interviews, here’s how Cynthia and Ariana’s friendship has developed over the years.
We’re holding space for them as Wicked For Good comes to cinemas (Picture: Neil Mockford/WireImage)
Cynthia Ervio and Ariana Grande’s instant bond
The pop superstar and the Tony Award winner first met at Cynthia’s house after learning they were both cast in the musical in November 2021.
They’d already sent flowers to each other, but Ariana told the BBC they ‘hung out for five hours’ laughing and crying the whole time.
‘We had a really real conversation right off the bat just about creating a safe space for each other,’ the Thank U, Next hitmaker shared.
The second time they met was at a dinner hosted by director Jon M. Chu for all the cast, at which Cynthia and Ariana sang together for the first time.
They had an instant ‘safe space’ with each other (Picture: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Ariana said they talked for five hours when they first met (Picture: Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
‘That was a really big moment for us,’ The Colour Purple icon told the Today show. ‘Because we can do this together, not just as actresses but as singers.’
By 2022, they had started rehearsals and were sharing snaps of each other on social media, with green and pink coordinating outfits a regular feature.
The pair get matching tattoos
The famous ‘For Good’ hand tat is actually from 2023, while they were still in the middle of filming.
Ariana explained in an interview with MTV that the placement was ‘so when [they] hold hands, the words touch’.
Jon revealed to The New York Times he had ‘cautioned them to maybe wait to get any tattoos about the movie until after they see it’ but they didn’t listen.
They have multiple matching tattoos (Picture: Ariana Grande/Instagram)
There’s two in hidden places that they haven’t revealed to the world (Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards)
He joked: ‘They opted to ignore me and got them on like days 3 of rehearsals.’
The matching ink doesn’t stop there, though, as they also have poppies on the outer edge of their hands, thought to be in reference to the Wizard of Oz’s poppy field.
On the backs of their ankles, they have little hearts with the first letter of their character’s name in it.
It serves as a double meaning as Ariana’s heart says ‘E’ for Elphaba and Erivo, while Cynthia’s ‘G’ is both Glinda and Grande.
There are even more tattoos somewhere as the Good Witch actress teased to Le Quotidien: ‘We have one that we can’t show. Well, we have two we can’t show.’
They hold space on the Wicked press tour
By early 2024, Cynthia and Ariana had appeared together at a few industry events, including presenting an Oscar together and singing at the Met Gala.
Outside of work, they headed to the Super Bowl together and then to the Paris Olympics, with some snaps posted by the official Wicked account.
Fans were obsessed with their dynamic (Picture: Lia Toby/Getty Images)
After more teasy outings together, it was finally time for what some have dubbed the ‘world’s longest press tour’ thanks to their constant viral moments.
In November 2024, journalist Tracy E Gilchrist earnestly told the duo that ‘people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space with that and feeling power in that’.
Cynthia’s tearful response baffled viewers — and her co-star — as she said ‘That’s really powerful’ and it was what she ‘wanted’ from the film.
Ariana, unsure what to do, just delicately held onto her friend’s index finger as the star repeated: ‘I didn’t know that was happening.’
Seeing the reaction, the journalist added the now iconic caveat that she ‘works in queer media’ so it may not be widespread.
The duo later admitted they had no clue what Tracey meant in this moment.
Speaking to Variety, Ariana said: ‘I didn’t know what any part of it meant.I didn’t understand the first sentence, and then I definitely didn’t understand… how [Cynthia] responded… I feel really relieved that the world had the same experience with this moment that I did.’
‘She’d said that she was seeing it because she was in queer media… and I honestly didn’t know what that meant,’ Cynthia added. ‘Am I also in queer media? Work. Let’s both be there.’
As the press tour continued, more tearful declarations of love for each other and this ‘special’ experience poured out of the actresses.
In one interview, Cynthia said: ‘I think we found a little piece of ourselves in each other. I think there are little pieces of us that, when we got together to do this together, when we first started, each of us was missing a little chunk.’
Are they friends For Good?
Wicked: For Good has reignited interest in their friendship but after Ariana missed the world premiere in Brazil, we’ve been waiting to see more.
However, they’ve not been doing the big press rollout we saw last year, despite the film hitting cinemas on November 21.
Leading man Jonathan Bailey appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, discussing his label as 2025’s Sexiest Man Alive.
Meanwhile, Madame Morrible — aka the iconic Michelle Yeoh — chatted to Graham Norton for the UK side of the press tour.
Ariana missed the world premiere with Jon M. Chu, Cynthia and Jonathan Bailey (Picture: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)
But this duo won’t be separated for long (Picture: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
We can’t wait to see the final film (Picture: Ralph Bavaro/NBC via Getty Images)
Cynthia told Harper’s Bazaar that she was hoping to put some ‘separation’ between herself and Elphaba as she moves on to new roles.
‘Elphaba will be part of my life forever, but we need separation,’ she said. ‘We’re not one and the same anymore, but we can be friends.’
She did not appear in the New York Times interview but did reunite with Ariana for Wicked One Wonderful Night, which aired on NBC.
The behind the scenes snaps appeared to be minimal, although the official Wicked account did share a sweet moment of the pair laughing together in rehearsals.
As the press tour continues, we’ll undoubtedly get more Ariana and Cynthia moments as they show us that this friendship has changed them for good.
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