Ariana Grande Looks Back On Nickelodeon Experience For First Time Since 'Quiet On Set'

Taiyler S. Mitchell
·2-min read

Pop star Ariana Grande, who addressed her childhood acting career at Nickelodeon for the first time since the explosive “Quiet on Set” docuseries aired in March, called for more support for youth in the entertainment industry.

In Part 1 of an interview on the podcast “Podcrushed,” the Grammy-winning singer told actor Penn Badgley, writer-producer Nava Kavelin and mixed media artist Sophie Ansari that she has been reevaluating her experience as a child star.

“Obviously my relationship to it has and is currently changing, and I’m reprocessing a lot of what my experience was like. I think that the environment needs to be made safer if kids are going to be acting,” Grande said.

Grande started on the four-season hit show “Victorious” as Cat Valentine when she was 14 years old. She was cast with her friend Elizabeth Gillies, who played Jade West. The show, which aired from 2010 to 2013, had been a subject in the five-episode docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” She later starred in “Sam & Cat,” which aired in 2013 and 2014.

The docuseries aired in March and explored sexual abuse, hostile work environments and scenes that put the child stars in sexual situations at Nickelodeon. It highlighted shows including “Victorious,” “All That,” “iCarly,” “Drake & Josh,” “The Amanda Show,” “Zoey 101” and “Kenan and Kel.”

Some of the scenes involving a young Grande in “Victorious” are especially suggestive and sexualized, but she said the people on set at the time thought they just “pushed the envelope with our humor.”

“Now looking back on some of the clips, I’m like, ‘Damn, really? Like, oh, shit,’” she added.

Kids television producer-screenwriter Dan Schneider, a focus of the docuseries and the creator of “Victorious,” is suing the “Quiet on Set” producers, claiming defamation.

Grande and the “Podcrushed” hosts did not mention the docuseries or Schneider by name.

“We had some very special memories, and we feel so privileged to have been able to create those roles and be a part of something that was so special for a lot of young kids,” Grande said.

She advocated for the required presence of therapists and parents to support children in the TV, film and music industries.

“A lot of people don’t have the support that they need to get through performing at that level at such a young age, but also dealing with some of the things that the survivors who have come forward [have],” Grande said.

Part 2 of “Podcrushed” with Grande comes out on June 17.

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