Ariana Grande did a real life ‘Parent Trap’ on her divorced parents and ‘forced’ them to become best friends

Ariana Grande has revealed how she “forced” her parents to become “best friends” after their divorce.

During Tuesday’s episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, the 31-year-old actor spoke candidly about the previously strained relationship of her mother, Joan Grande, and father, Ed Butera. She explained that while her parents didn’t get along for years after their breakup, finally things changed for the better at her insistence.

“They’re not together, but they’re best friends,” she said about her mother and father, who split when Grande was eight. “It took 18 years and it took me forcing it. I forced them to communicate again. I really did.”

The Wicked star clarified that on her 24th birthday, she spoke to both of her parents about getting along again.

“I remember just kind of being at this pivotal point where I was just like, ‘You guys, I love you both so much. It’s been such a long time. Figure it the f*** out. Like hello, it’s been 18 years,’” she recalled. “Please get over it. And they did.”

After emphasizing that her parents are “best friends now” and she can’t “separate them,” she applauded them for having whatever discussion they had about being in each other’s lives.

“I guess they just had like, some sort of beautiful conversation or realized that like, how much they love me is so much louder than whatever nonsense happened way back when,” Grande added. “It really is beautiful, and if only they had the tools that I feel like we have now, this generation, with therapy and embracing that, maybe it could have happened sooner, but it was just the perfect thing.”

The “7 Rings” singer previously discussed her parents’ decision to divorce. During an appearance on the Zach Sang Show last year, she acknowledged that while her parents split up “for all the right reasons,” she still craved “the happily ever after” as a child.

“The one is the one is the one. So you ignore all these issues and you kind of cling onto the fairytale,” she explained. “You kind of self-abandon. And I think my mom is a fierce example of not doing that.”

She later realized she wanted to be like her mother, who “had the strength to say bye kindly” to her marriage since it wasn’t “right.”

Granda has shared in the past that she didn’t always have a good relationship with her father. During an interview with Seventeen in 2014, she said “falling out of touch with [her] dad” was the hardest thing for her to deal with.

“It's private, but it happened last year. It took me so long to be okay with it. The thing that got me there was embracing the fact that I am made up of half my dad, and a lot of my traits come from him,” Grande explained at the time. “So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn't like that about myself. I had to accept that it's okay not to get along with somebody and still love them.”

However, it appears Grande and her father are back on good terms. During her 2020 Grammys performance, she changed the lyrics to her song, “Thank U, Next” to praise her father, as she sang: “I’ll be thanking my dad / ’Cause he’s really awesome.”

The original lyrics to the song are: “One day I’ll walk down the aisle/Holding hands with my mama / I’ll be thanking my dad/ ’Cause she grew from the drama.”