There were rumors of a salary disparity between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, stars of the movie ‘Wicked.’ Universal denied these rumors. Grande explained what she and her co-star had done to bring fairness between them. Speaking to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, she said that when she received her contract for ‘Wicked,’ she called Erivo and went through it “step by step” before filming to make sure their needs were “compatible.”
“When I got my contract, I called [Erivo], and was like, ‘Hey let’s go through this thing. Let’s go beat by beat through this together and make sure we are aligned in what we need,’” Grande said. “If [Erivo needs] something, we need it together. I want us to have each other’s backs. Your problems become my problems and mine become yours.”
In posts on TikTok and Reddit, it was claimed that Ariana Grande earned 15 million dollars for her role in the movie ‘Wicked,’ while Cynthia Erivo received only 1 million dollars, causing controversy on the internet.
Grande explained how “granular” her connection with Erivo was even before production began, adding that “any press tour” or “short little TikTok” could not accurately reflect the breadth of their friendship.
“It’s impossible to really share the depths of how real that is. We started creating that long before we ever got to set,” Grande said. “I think it was a really important part of the work that we did. I’m really grateful because one of the things that I’m most proud of is how we nurtured each other.”
After opening on Nov. 22, the highly anticipated Broadway-to-big-screen adaptation has amassed a staggering $472,042,574 worldwide gross, making it the ninth highest of 2024. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ prequel follows Erivo’s Elphaba and Grande’s Glinda, who were close friends and schoolmates before the arrival of Dorothy and Toto.
