Ariana Grande has revealed she has tested positive for COVID-19 amid a global press tour for Wicked: For Good.
Grande on Thursday posted on her Instagram Stories with the caption “moments before COVID” underneath a photo of her showing off her wicked wand skills during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
Grande and co-star Cynthia Erivo have just completed a global press tour for director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good, his second installment of Universal’s adaptation of the classic Broadway play and book. Grande stars as Glinda the Good Witch and Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
The movie hits cinemas in North America on Nov. 21, the weekend before Thanksgiving. The global press tour put Grande under pressure when an appearance on the Wicked: For Good red carpet in Singapore prompted an overzealous fan to break through the security line and rush the actress and aggressively throw his arms around her.
Erivo quickly jumped in, helped shove the fan away and then with her arms around Grande and along with co-star Michelle Yeoh diffused the tense security incident.
Erivo, during an appearance on the Today show Thursday, explained her fast-thinking rescue of her co-star in Singapore: “I wasn’t really thinking. I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe. I’m sure he didn’t mean us harm, but you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure that she was OK. That was my first instinct.”
The Hollywood Reporter has forecast a record-setting Thanksgiving feast in the $120 million-plus range domestically and north of $200 million worldwide for Wicked: For Good. That would be the best start for a Broadway musical adaptation ever.
