Ariana Grande is one of the most successful pop artists of the 21st century.

At just 33, she has sold over 90 million records, earned multiple Grammy Awards, broken dozens of Guinness World Records, and successfully transitioned from a Nickelodeon child star to a major box-office and Oscar-nominated film star.

But away from the many highs of her career, she has navigated severe public and personal trauma. 

On Tuesday, the singer tearfully bid farewell to showbiz as she completed the final show on her Eternal Sunshine tour at London’s O2 Arena. 

Fans were quick to capture the moment and soak up the atmosphere of the concert, knowing it’s the last they’ll see of Ariana for the foreseeable.

Last month, Ariana’s team announced that she’ll be ‘taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances’, following ‘endless, ongoing public scrutiny’. 

While feeling the pressure of ‘scrutiny’, Ariana has consistently used therapy and music as critical tools for survival and healing. 

How Ariana Grande has been on a ‘healing’ journey to cope with PTSD, grief, depression and anxiety – after she tearfully bids goodbye to showbiz on Tuesday to go on a career hiatus

She has been transparent about how she navigates her healing journey in the public eye, having experienced severe trauma and mental health battles. 

Her trauma stems primarily from two devastating events, alongside the pressures of long-term stardom from childhood. 

In 2017, Ariana was diagnosed with PTSD after 22 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when a suicide bomber targeted her concert in Manchester.

She understandably struggled to come to terms with the tragedy, telling British Vogue a year on: ‘It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss. But, yeah, it’s a real thing.

‘I feel like I shouldn’t even be talking about my own experience – like I shouldn’t even say anything. I don’t think I’ll ever know how to talk about it and not cry.’

Ariana developed physical symptoms from the trauma, telling Elle that in the aftermath of the attack she suffered from ‘really wild dizzy spells abd this feeling like I couldn’t breathe’. 

She added: ‘I would be in a good mood, fine and happy, and they would hit me out of nowhere. I’ve always had anxiety, but it had never been physical before. There were a couple of months straight where I felt so upside down.’

Ariana – who has been in therapy since her parents divorced in childhood – channelled her pain into her music, writing her album, Sweetener. 

She explained on the Awards Chatter podcast: ‘I was doing so much therapy, and I was dealing with PTSD and all different kinds of grief and depression and anxiety. 

‘And, I was, of course, treating it very seriously, but having music be a part of that remedy was absolutely contributing to saving my life.

‘They were dark times, and the music brought so much levity and so did the experience. But it poured out with urgency, and it was made with urgency, and it was a means of survival.’

In 2017, Ariana was diagnosed with PTSD after 22 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when a suicide bomber targeted her concert in Manchester (pictured the following year at a benefit concert) 

The 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017

Tragically, less than a month after her album was released she was dealt another crushing blow when her ex-boyfriend was found dead. 

She had dated the rapper for nearly two years, with the couple amicably parting ways in May 2018. 

Yet in September that year he suffered from an accidental overdose of cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol, and was found dead aged 26. 

As she navigated her grief, Ariana again sought solace in her music, penning her fifth album, Thank U Next, in just two weeks. 

She later said of the record: ‘Making this project with so many dear friends quite literally saved my life and gave me the courage to be vulnerable and be honest with people.

‘Thank you for making me feel heard, safe and incredibly human. It is nice (and so healing) to know that I don’t have to hide behind a weird, polished pop star facade and that I’m able to connect with so many people over my truths and pain.’

She released the album in February 2019, just months after she dropped Sweetener in August 2018.

‘The label understood that [I needed to release Thank U, Next], but they were also very hesitant to stop Sweetener dead in its tracks and move onto an album so quickly…’ Ariana recalled.

‘I just said: “I don’t really care about the formula. I don’t want to play by the rules at this moment, because this is what I need for my soul.”  It felt really healing and freeing.’

While Ariana used music and therapy to cope with her PTSD, she was triggered last year after being ambushed by an overzealous fan at the Wicked premiere. 

Ariana – who played Glinda in the film – was on the red carpet in Singapore when a man jumped a barrier and grabbed hold of the diminutive singer-turned-actress.

Less than a month after her first album since the bombing was released she was dealt another crushing blow when her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller was found dead (pictured in 2016)

Insiders say Ariana was triggered and her PTSD came back after she was ambushed by a crazed man while walking the red carpet last year (pictured with Cynthia Erivo)  

A Daily Mail investigation confirmed that this was a coordinated and planned attack on Ariana by a repeat offender who had targeted multiple celebrities in the past, including singers Katy Perry and the Weeknd. 

Johnson Wen, who goes by the pseudonym ‘Pyjama Man’ and proudly boasts on Instagram that he is the ‘troll most hated’, posted a string of pictures and videos before and after his attack on Ariana. 

An insider told the Daily Mail of the incident: ‘Ariana has been trying to soothe herself because her mind automatically jumps to the darkest possibilities.

‘W hen someone suddenly approaches or charges at her, it triggers her… almost like PTSD, as her mind immediately goes to the worst-case scenario.’

They added that following the horrific Manchester bombing Ariana ‘wanted to quit everything and become a hermit’, adding that ‘she still has panic attacks’.

Eyebrows were also raised over Ariana’s wellbeing on the Wicked tour after she displayed a noticeably thinner frame. 

After Ariana dyed her hair light blonde for her role as Glinda in 2022, fans began to voice their concerns about her appearance, and what appeared to be weight loss from her petite frame.

The star then called on fans to be ‘gentler and less comfortable’ about remarking on her and other people’s bodies.

In a video shared to her social media, she said: ‘I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.

‘I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like maybe having an openness and some sort of vulnerability here will [mean] something good might come from it. I don’t know but that’s the first thing. Healthy can look different.’

She continued: ‘The second thing is, you never know what someone is going through. Even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with.

‘You never know. So be gentle with each other and with yourselves.’ 

This year fans have been concerned for her wellbeing again when she released the music video for her song, Petal, which displayed her alarmingly frail frame

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The entire Wicked cast came under scrutiny for their seemingly over-the-top displays on the promo tour, with the team constantly tearing up and clinging to one another.  

During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Ariana then revealed that the cast had become codependent on one another. 

Host Jimmy Fallon asked her if it was fun to reunite with her cast as filming for both movies wrapped up in January 2024.

Ariana replied: ‘Yeah, a lot of people are asking, ‘Are you going to miss each other?’

‘I’m like, “I don’t think we are going to have to miss each other at all.” We’ve become quite codependent, all of us.’

Yet after the release of the sequel, Wicked: For Good, Ariana confirmed she was back to focusing on her music, explaining how she was slowly rebuilding her relationship with touring. 

Ahead of the start of the Eternal Sunshine tour, she acknowledged that the trauma connected to Manchester concert had made the healing process gradual. 

She explained last year: ‘I’ve just been taking baby steps towards healing my relationship to music and touring, I think it just held some traumas for me before, and I feel those dissipating, and that is such an extraordinarily beautiful thing.’

The tour commenced on June 6 this year in Oakland, but two months later, fans were concerned for her wellbeing again when she released the music video for her song, Petal, which displayed her alarmingly frail frame. 

Amid the discourse, Ariana’s spokesman told People: ‘Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility’ adding that she will be taking ‘a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny’.

Ariana’s schedule has been nonstop for the past five years, with the star filming both parts of Wicked, promoting the films, shooting Focker-in-Law and releasing two albums – Eternal Sunshine and Petal before beginning the tour. 

It’s hoped now that she will be able to take the time to recover from her hectic schedule and fully focus on continuing her healing journey. 

For confidential help and support with emotional distress in the UK, contact Samaritans on 116 123. 

In the US, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org