Cynthia Erivo trusted her instincts and leapt into action to defend her co-star Ariana Grande last week — and now she’s opening up about the experience.
Last Thursday, during the “Wicked: For Good” premiere in Singapore, a man vaulted over a barrier to accost Grande. A video of the incident showed Erivo immediately turning toward the singer to shield her as he rushed at them.
“We have come through some shit,” Erivo said during a Saturday screening of the film in Los Angeles.
“We have come through some stuff in our lives, in our daily workings… I mean, fuck, even this last week,” she continued, in apparent reference to Thursday’s incident. “Let’s be honest, for fuck’s sake; we’ve had to really deal with some stuff.”
As an emotional Grande sat beside her onstage at the Los Angeles screening, Erivo described the camaraderie she and her co-star have developed.
“This movie has allowed us to really grow as people, as friends, as sisters, as artists, as actresses,” Erivo explained.
Marissa Bode, who plays Nessarose Thropp in the film, addressed the scary fan incident in a series of TikTok videos posted on Friday.
“Did you get your views? Did you get your likes?” Bode asked the fan, who has an apparent history of disrupting public events. “Guess what you also did? You made somebody feel incredibly unsafe.”
“I don’t think women, or really anybody, should be expected to move with grace or respond with kindness when they’ve been violated in that way, and to expect that makes you a weirdo also,” she continued.