There’s nothing like a grandmother’s love, and no matter how big of a celebrity you might become, there’s something to be said about the comfort and support only a grandparent can provide. This proved to be true for none other than Ariana Grande, who shared to her Instagram that she flew to her Florida hometown to see her film Wicked in theatres alongside her grandmother, affectionately known as Nonna. Marjorie Grande, who is 99 years old, joined her granddaughter in the movie theater they grew up going to in Florida, making the moment all the more special.
Grande was joined by her brother, Frankie Grande, as well as her partner, whom she also starred alongside in the film, Ethan Slater. The singer and actress shared clips of her Nonna looking on at the film full of pride and awe, and seeing the love in her eyes pulled on our heartstrings in unimaginable ways.
“Thrilled to report that when the sugar glider had her drum solo, Nonna exclaimed loudly, ‘Oh, I LOVE that,” Grande wrote in another post she shared. The video Grande shared of her Nonna looking at the screen fondly has since gone viral on Reddit, with countless users sharing the love in the comments.
“I can imagine that The Wizard of Oz was a movie her grandma saw as a young girl, and now she’s watching the prequel with her granddaughter as the lead. She looks so proud,” wrote one user, tugging on our heartstrings. “Her grandmother has probably watched Ariana dream of being in Wicked her entire life. There are pictures of her dressed as Elphaba as a child. It must be so wonderful to actually get to see your grandchild achieve her lifelong dream,” wrote another.
Ariana Grande’s family is proud of her Wicked success
Grande’s involvement in this film was meaningful for both her and her family. “I was about to perform in my show Horror Camp,” her brother Frankie Grande told E! News. “And she told me in the bathroom, and we fell on the ground in sobbing tears, me, my mother and my sister, and it was just such a beautiful thing.” He continued, “You know, obviously, coming from a musical theater family and a musical theater background, just knowing that she was going to get to live this dream that I have watched her dream about for so long, for her entire life. It’s very hard to put into words, but I’m just so proud of her.”
Another way in which this film is tied to her family is actually in the ending credits. The singer is credited as Ariana Grande Butera in the end, a reference to her father, Edward Butera. The singer explained this choice in an Entertainment Tonight interview, saying, “That was my name when I first saw Wicked, and I do feel, not to sound like a broken record, but I do feel like this role in this project helped me sort of come home to little Ari and maybe little pieces of her got lost along the way in this crazy industry. And I am so grateful for the ways in which this experience led me back.”
