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\n Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images, Retailer\n <\/p>\n
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have famously gotten very close while filming Wicked \u2013 so close, apparently, that they\u2019re not just finishing each others\u2019 sentences but replicating them entirely. On Wednesday, a Wicked fan speaking to the Washington Post pointed out that Erivo\u2019s new memoir included an uncredited quote from Grande, copied almost verbatim. The accusation came two weeks after the book, Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They\u2019re Too Much, was published on November 18.<\/p>\n
The passage is in Chapter 42, where Erivo writes about her struggles with body image. \u201cI\u2019ve been a specimen in a petri dish since I was a teenager. I\u2019ve heard it all, every version of what\u2019s wrong with me. And when I fix it, then it\u2019s wrong for different reasons. Maybe you\u2019ve felt the same?\u201d the book says. Later on, it continues, \u201cIf you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone\u2019s granny says, Oh, my god, you look skinnier, what\u2019s wrong? Or someone else says, You look heavier, what happened? That is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it\u2019s happening \u2026 This ease in making remarks is really dangerous for all parties involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wicked fan, Cassie Plumridge, told the Post that she quickly recognized the words from an interview<\/a> Erivo and Grande did with French content creator Sally in December 2024 during their first round of emotional Wicked press appearances<\/a>, in which Grande spoke about pressure she feels around her looks. \u201cI\u2019ve been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,\u201d Grande said in the interview. \u201cI\u2019ve heard every version of it, of what\u2019s wrong with me, and then you fix it, and then it\u2019s wrong for different reasons.\u201d Grande said it can be \u201chard to protect yourself from that noise,\u201d adding, \u201cI think it\u2019s something that is uncomfortable no matter what scale you\u2019re experiencing it on. Even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone\u2019s granny says, Oh my god, you look skinnier, what happened? or, You look heavier, what happened? It\u2019s like \u2014 that is something that is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it\u2019s happening, no matter the scale it\u2019s happening on. She added that these comments can be \u201cdangerous for all parties involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n In a statement to The Cut that was also sent to the Post, a spokesperson for Flatiron Books, the Macmillan imprint that published Erivo\u2019s memoir, said t had left out Grande\u2019s name by mistake. \u201cA chapter introduction, which included correct attribution, was inadvertently left out of the book,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding that it \u201cimmediately updated the file to the corrected version, which will be used going forward in all formats including all future printings of the physical book.\u201d Per the Post, the passage in question was written in a similar style to the rest of the book, and none of the other chapters have an introduction.<\/p>\n Like many celebrity memoirs, Erivo\u2019s was written with the help of a ghostwriter, identified in the acknowledgments as Bernadette Murphy. Murphy, who includes Erivo\u2019s testimonial on her website, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Cut.<\/p>\n As for Plumridge, the Wicked stan who first identified the uncredited quote? She remains loyal to the cause. She told the Post she\u2019s seeing Wicked: For Good\u00a0for the fifth time this weekend. <\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n