Very few celebrities talk openly about using fillers, with some initially denying it and later coming out with the fact they’ve used injectables for anti-aging purposes or lip fullness. Ariana Grande joined that small group, speaking very candidly to Vogue about her history with fillers and using beauty to “hide” her true self.
“Full transparency: As a beauty person, as I do my lips, I’ve had a ton of lip filler over the years and botox,” she said during a makeup tutorial. “I stopped in 2018 because I just felt so too much. I just felt like hiding, you know?” Her voice broke a bit, and she noted that she “didn’t expect to get emotional” speaking about it. (Grande, now 30, had been just 24 and 25 years old in 2018.)
Grande was asked about her relationship to beauty leading up to that confession. She began by noting how being a child star made her very susceptible to comments about her appearance.
Ariana Grande At Wimbledon 2023
Read her full remarks below:
“I feel like my relationship to beauty has changed so much over the years especially because I started so young. You know, being exposed to so many voices at a young age, especially when people have like, things to say about your appearance and stuff at a young age, it’s really hard to know what’s worth hearing and not. But you know, when you’re 17, you don’t know that yet. I, over the years, used makeup as a disguise, or as something to hide behind. More and more and more hair, the thicker the eyeliner, whatever, and that can be so beautiful at times, and I still do have love for it and appreciation for it, but I think as I get older, I don’t love that being the intention behind it anymore. I think of it as self expression now and accentuating what is here. Our relationship to beauty is so personal. We’re here talking about beauty secrets, isn’t the secret that we all just want to feel our best and be loved?
“Full transparency: As a beauty person, as I do my lips, I’ve had a ton of lip filler over the years and botox. I stopped in 2018 because I just felt so too much. I just felt like hiding, you know? Didn’t expect to get emotional.
“For a long time, beauty was about hiding for me. And now I feel like maybe it’s not since I stopped getting fillers and botox and maybe I’ll start again with it, I don’t know, to each their own, whatever makes you feel beautiful, I do support [it]. But I know for me, I was just like, ‘Oh! I want to see my well-earned cry lines and smile lines. I hope my smile lines get deeper and deeper, and I laugh more and more.’ And I just think aging is such a—it can be such a beautiful thing. Now, might I get a facelift in 10 years? Might, yeah! But these are just thoughts that I feel like we should be able to discuss if we’re sitting here, talking about beauty secrets. F*ck it, let’s lay it all out there.”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
