Cynthia Erivo spoke for the first time about the crazed fan who grabbed Ariana Grande at the “Wicked: For Good” premiere in Singapore last week.
The Tony winner described her and her co-star going “through some s–t” together during a Screen Actors Guild screening over the weekend, per Entertainment Weekly.
While the actress, 38, did not specify the event she was referring to, she hinted at the headline-making moment when Johnson Wen jumped a barricade and charged at Grande.
“I mean, f–k, even this last week,” Erivo said. “Let’s be honest, for f–k’s sakes. We’ve had to really deal with some stuff.
“This movies has allowed us to really grow as people, as friends, as sisters, as artists, as actresses,” she continued.
Grande, according to the outlet, was visibly emotional and tearing up as Erivo spoke.
“I’ll miss being in this group of people constantly,” Erivo continued, calling herself “desperately grateful” while pointing out that “you don’t get a group of people this close often on a set.”
She gushed, “You don’t earn family like this often, and we have. F–king lucky thing to be a part of.”
Erivo noted that the cast members were “brave enough to dig into themselves, to find out a little more about who they were, to inform the characters that they were playing.”
She added, “[That] then forced me to excavate some of the things that I had been sort of stamping on and putting under my feet because I was too scared to look at them.”
Grande, for her part, has yet to break her silence on Wen’s viral ambush.
The “Thank U, Next” singer, 32, refrained from mentioning the incident while sharing an Instagram roundup last Friday, captioned, “thank you, Singapore ♡ we love you 🫧.”
Wen, who has charged other celebrities before, was arrested.
Despite telling his Instagram followers he was “free,” he was sentenced to nine days in prison for being a public nuisance.
Erivo was the first to react during last Thursday’s attack, reaching Grande and separating her from Wen before the security guards.
“Security needs to hire Cynthia she was not playing at all,” one X user tweeted, with others calling Erivo “so quick” with “faster reflexes than multiple grown male security.”
She and Grande have formed a close bond while co-starring as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, with Erivo describing the “Victorious” alum as her “sister” to Elle last year.
“We had really beautiful conversations, some that were not easy, but that’s what makes relationships,” the Broadway star told the magazine in November 2024.
