Ariana Grande Responds to “Diva” Accusations & Reflects On Mac Miller’s “Beautiful Gift”

In a rare interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio, Grande spoke about her late ex Mac Miller, and fought back the tears as she defended herself against accusations of being a “diva.”

The singer said that Mac was the kind of person who always put his career first, so much so he would forget just about anything else. “Nothing was more important. Talk about losing track of time and forgetting to eat, [having to] remind yourself to take care of yourself and be a person. He was a person who gave literally every single second of his thought and time and life to his music,” she said.

In a July 2019 interview with Vogue, she spoke about grieving the rapper’s sudden passing, calling it “all-consuming.” The pair dated from 2016 to 2018 and broke up only a few short months before his death.

“I think that’s so evident in what he’s left us with,” she said of his work. “And just how many incredible and different bodies of work. Everything from Blue Slide Park, K.I.D.S., to all the way through Divine Feminine, to Swimming, to Circles, to everything in between.” Then added, “It’s just such a beautiful gift, I think, that he kind of touched the world with. I think the thing he’d want most is for us to just appreciate it and not forget about it.”

Elsewhere, Grande explained that the accusation of “diva” like behavior had kept her from speaking publicly in the past. “I stopped doing interviews for a really long time, […] somebody would try to say something for clickbait or twist my words or blah, blah, blah, I would defend myself. And then, people would be like, ‘Oh, she’s a diva.'”

When Lowe praised her for the “powerful” decision to let the music do the talking, she exclaimed, “That’s gonna make me cry!” while getting visibly choked up. “Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate that a lot.”