A new photo of Ariana Grande looking thin has sparked concerns among fans and doctors.
The singer has visibly lost weight in recent years, which has been attributed to her vegan diet.
But doctors said the photo, believed to have been taken in mid-December with fans at a screening of her new movie Wicked, indicated that the ‘strikingly thin’ Ms Grande had undergone a ‘drastic change’ in recent months.
Dr Sue Decotiis, a board-certified weight loss expert based in New York City, highlighted the star’s visible ribs and prominent clavicle.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘It looks like she lost too much weight. It also looks like her eyes are bulging – which is a sign of a lot of weight loss and could actually be a thyroid disease too.’
She suggested the star could be suffering from hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid produces too little thyroid hormone, causing the body’s functions to slow down. Symptoms include feeding problems and poor weight gain.
‘My biggest concern for her would be losing bone density [which increases the risk of injuries]. This could be accompanied with having very low estrogen levels, not getting your period, fertility issues, and more,’ Dr Decotiis said.
Ms Grande has been subject to public speculation about her weight since her days on the kid’s network Nickelodeon, but rumors that she has slimmed down to a dangerous degree ramped up drastically during the press junket for Wicked.
Ariana Grande in 2020 compared to in December with fans. Fans and experts have said the new photo indicated that Ms Grande had undergone a ‘drastic change’
Ariana said recently: ‘I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me, and then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons.’
The singer has been inundated with messages on social media from fans and spectators expressing their worries about her weight.
Others have speculated she could be taking Ozempic.
Fans have drawn attention to a recent spate of photos taken with fans and her appearances at public events like the Golden Globes, in which her ribs and shoulder bones were prominent.
Dr Decotiis said: ‘Her upper body is very thin and she has a child-like look.’
Many have commented on her chiseled cheekbones, noting that she has lately looked more gaunt than contoured.
Experts say it is customary for an underweight person to have hollowed-out cheeks and a sharp jawline.
Many have also cited her vegan diet as a potential cause.
‘The vegan diet in my mind – I never put any patients on a vegan diet,’ Dr Decotiis said.
‘It does not have enough protein, and your body needs protein to produce the substances it runs onto function.
‘If you’re not getting the proper nutrients it can negatively impact hormones, muscle mass, bone health, cardiac health, and more.’
The above images show Ariana Grande and her co-star Cynthia Erivo before Wicked
And, again, after the production of the Wicked movie
Ms Grande has also been open about her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder linked to a 2017 terror attack on the Manchester Arena in the UK.
She had just wrapped up a concert when a bomb detonated at the venue, killing 22 people, including children.
A longtime anxiety sufferer, she said in the aftermath of the attack: ‘I’ve always had anxiety.
‘I’ve never really spoken about it because I thought everyone had it, but when I got home from tour it was the most severe I think it’s ever been.’
Low appetite is strongly associated with PTSD symptoms.
Dr Decotiis said: ‘Some people use food in times of distress as a way to calm them down. In the inverse, some people – like Grande – may take the opposite approach.
‘Sometimes, people with anxiety, PTSD, or depression lose their appetite. In some cases, people feel so out of control in their lives, that they use food as the one thing that they can control.’
The above graphic posted online shows Ariana Grande at a show in 2018 and again at the same show, also wearing a pink dress, in 2024
Ariana has not stated publicly that she has struggled with disordered eating in the past, though she has called for less scrutiny of women’s bodies, including her own.
She said on the podcast Las Culturistas in November about scrutiny and guesswork around her health: ‘They tell me I have a lot of things . . . You’re actually invasive and scary, and triggering. Just wrong and loud and unhealthy — that’s toxic.’