Ariana Grande Reveals Sentimental 'Wicked' Movie Moment Fans May Miss

wicked movie ariana grande full name credits
Ariana Grande on Using Her Full Name in 'Wicked'Universal


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Have you ever watched a movie and waited to see the end credits? Well, with Wicked Part 1 coming out on November 22, Ariana Grande is sharing a special reason behind why you might want to wait until the last minutes of the film.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated movie hitting the box office, the former The Voice coach sat down for a short appearance on The Streaming Service with Justin Hill podcast. In a snippet from the interview, it was pointed out that the film's end credits show something unique about how Ariana's name is billed. Instead of the name everyone associates with her (Ariana Grande), folks may miss how she actually used her full name in the credits ("riana Grande-Butera). So, why did she decide to make this change for Wicked? As the singer explained, it stems from a very personal reason.

"Technically, it’s my little girl name," she stated in a clip posted on TikTok on November 4. "I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me. I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda, from Elphaba. You know, that was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old. It felt like a really lovely way of honoring that... It felt really full circle. It just felt like something I wanted to do."

When fans realized how important it was for Ariana to honor her younger self in such a subtle way, they couldn't hold back their emotions in the comments.

"Honoring lil Ari I cantttt 🥺🥺🥺🥺," one person exclaimed. "I just know that playing this role, it healed so many parts of Ari," another declared. "Ari was holding her tears 🥺," a different follower added.

As some fans may know, Ariana's full name is Ariana Grande-Butera, honoring her mom Joan's maiden name (Grande) and her father Edward's last name (Butera). While it's unclear exactly when she chose to shorten her name, she was first credited with her current stage name in 2008 when she starred in the Broadway musical 13. She later used her shortened name for Victorious and eventually her award-winning music career.

Additionally, Ariana's not the only member of her family to do this for Hollywood purposes. Her half-brother Frankie Grande adopted a similar moniker for his stage name (shortening it from Frank James Michael Grande Marchione) when it came to being on Broadway and TV.

wicked movie ariana grande full name credits
Don Arnold - Getty Images

Well, now there's one more thing to look out for when you go see Wicked Part 1 at the movies!

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