Cynthia Erivo is opening up about the viral moment she protected Ariana Grande from an intruder, explaining why the jokes calling her a “bodyguard” actually hurt more than people realized.
The 39-year-old actress and singer recently sat down with Variety to look back on her intense two-year experience promoting the Wicked movies. She talked about many things, but one topic stood out. The night in Singapore when a man rushed at Ariana Grande, and how the internet reacted to her stepping in.
The Singapore Incident That Started Everything
Back in November 2025, during the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore, a man named Johnson Wen jumped over a barrier and grabbed Ariana Grande on the red carpet. Grande, who has spoken openly about dealing with PTSD after the 2017 Manchester concert bombing, was in a very scary situation.
Cynthia Erivo reacted immediately. She pushed the man away and used her own body to shield her co-star.
“Nobody moved. Nobody moved,” Erivo told Variety. “So I moved because my brain went, ‘Get him away! Get him out of here!’ My immediate reaction was ‘Get him away from us.’”
She explained that what people watching the video did not see was how serious it really was. “And what people couldn’t see is that he wouldn’t let go [of Grande]. He wouldn’t let go. So I just kept pushing at him to get him off.”
Johnson Wen was later arrested, charged with public nuisance, and sent to prison for nine days in Singapore. He had done similar things before, crashing concerts for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and The Weeknd.
Why ‘Bodyguard’ Jokes Crossed a Line
After the video spread online, many people called Erivo a hero. But others turned it into jokes and memes, labeling her as Ariana Grande‘s personal “bodyguard.” At first, this might sound like a compliment. But Erivo saw a much deeper problem.
“I think that we haven’t really come to terms with the insidious nature of how we view Black women,” she said. “And I’m sure people will read this and think, ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, it’s not about that.’ But it is.”
She broke down exactly what the jokes were really making fun of.
“Because that’s what was being made fun of. It was my physique; it was my shape; it was the fact that I was bald; it was about what I looked like.”
Erivo pointed out that people assumed she was “bigger” than her co-star just because of how she looks. That led to the idea that her only role was to be controlling or protecting someone else.
“I would hazard a guess that it would not have been the same had it been the other way around,” she added.
SZA and Others Defend Cynthia Erivo
Many other artists noticed the unfairness of the jokes. Singer SZA spoke up strongly on social media, calling the memes a clear example of “classic misogynoir.”
Misogynoir is a term created by author Moya Bailey in 2008. It describes the specific type of hatred directed at Black women because of both their race and their gender.
Ariana Grande also showed her support. She did not make a public statement, but she liked an Instagram post from a film content creator called The Film Diva. That post called out the videos for making fun of Cynthia Erivo in a harmful way.
How the Backlash Affected Her Oscar Campaign
The situation hurt Erivo more than people knew. She told Variety that the “bodyguard” comments played a big part in her choice to step back from campaigning for an Oscar for Wicked: For Good.
“I just felt like my humanity had been bastardized,” she said. “I felt like something I did instinctively had been made to be something that it simply was not because of the way people see women who look like me, and because of the assumptions that are made.”
She added that she did not want to put herself through that experience again. “I just didn’t want to be a part of that, really and truly. I didn’t want to put myself through it. I didn’t feel like I deserved it.”
Friendship With Ariana Grande Was Real
Throughout the entire press tour, people kept guessing about Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande‘s relationship. Some thought they were faking their friendship. Others made up rumors that they were secretly dating.
Erivo said the constant speculation was exhausting.
“It’s very interesting, watching what people’s perception is versus what the reality actually is,” she explained. “Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why.”
She stated clearly that people did not want to believe the simple truth. “I think that people didn’t really believe that we were actually friends.”
But despite all the noise, the two women stayed close. Erivo shared that she and Grande still “text nearly every day.”
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Moving On From the ‘Wicked’ Era
By the time the second movie’s press tour ended, Erivo admitted she and her co-star were barely holding it together.
“We were holding on by threads,” she said.
This is why, during a recent interview game with Variety, she refused to sing the famous Defying Gravity riff. She told the interviewer she had spent two years talking about Wicked and wanted to focus on other things.
Cynthia Erivo is currently performing a one-woman show of Dracula in London’s West End. She plays all 23 characters in the play. It runs at the Noël Coward Theatre until May 30, 2026.
When asked if she would ever return to the Wicked franchise for a third movie, she did not say yes. “It would take a lot to get me back to do it. It has to make sense.”
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