After starring on the popular TV show Victorious, Ariana Grande got her own spin-off, Sam & Cat. It lasted from June 2013 to July 2014, so it was pretty short-lived, but for fans, the memory lives on as it was a sweet and innocent show. It seemed like all of a sudden, Grande was a hugely successful pop star who had been around forever, putting out hit songs all the time.
The singer has a net worth of $150 million and a beautiful house in the Hollywood Hills, so she seems all grown-up now. But back in the day, she was a young girl starring on a Nickelodeon show, and it's interesting to hear what her experience was like on the network. Let's take a look at Grande's account of being a young actress.
"Frustrating" Times
While people say Ariana Grande isn't a sweetheart, her fans have followed her career for years and they loved watching her on Victorious and Sam & Cat.
Ariana Grande said it was "frustrating" to play Cat. According to Huffington Post, she shared that she didn't relate to Cat, so this was a difficult time for her. She said, "It was a blessing and one of my childhood dreams come true. For a long time, I was attached to a character that was nothing like myself. It was a little frustrating."
Grande has also said that because her character Cat had so many fans, she would "pretend to be more like her," according to The Hollywood Reporter. She continued, "It took me a long time to be brave enough to separate myself and show people how different we actually are."
The singer says that she "admires" Cat because she's optimistic and "She always saw negative obstacles as opportunities to make things good."
This makes a lot of sense as actors are often put into the box of the TV character that they played. It can be impossible for audiences to see them as anything but that person, but of course, everyone wants to move on after a certain point.
People wonder if the set of Victorious was pleasant, as Grande said that another actor was mean to her. She shared in an interview with Seventeen, "I worked with someone who told me they’d never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.”
More Drama
The drama continued as Victoria Justice says that she was never anything but nice to Ariana Grande. According to Seventeen, Justice appeared on The Meredith Vieira Show and said, "basically there was an article in Seventeen magazine where she had said that she was bullied onset and the magazine basically alluded to it being me." Justice says that Grande texted her and said she was talking about someone on Broadway, not her.
No matter who Grande was talking about, it sounds like she didn't really love being on these two TV shows.
There was also drama between Ariana Grande and Jennette McCurdy, who starred on the show together. Elite Daily says that McCurdy said her connection with Grande was "sisterly" but they didn't always get along.
According to Elite Daily, people said that Grande got paid a lot more than her co-star, and the singer tweeted that wasn't true. Grande said, "I hate addressing rumors and I hate gossip but this is really bothering me." Seventeen also mentioned the strained relationship between the two co-stars and said McCurdy stopped following Grande on social media platforms. People wonder if this is why the series didn't last very long.
Grateful
Even though the singer has said that it was tough, she also seems very grateful that she was on Nickelodeon. In May 2020, she won Favorite Female Artist at the Nickelodeon's Kids’ Choice Awards 2020: Celebrate Together.
She was thrilled to get the award and, according to ET Online, said, "I'm very appreciative. Nickelodeon always will hold such a tremendous place in my heart, not only because of Victorious and Sam & Cat and the amazing years I spent working with them, but also just for SpongeBob, you know?"
While Ariana Grande said that playing Cat was "frustrating" and she had some beef with two of her co-stars, it sounds like her time on Sam & Cat and Victorious was definitely a learning experience. Everyone goes through tough times and it helps them grow, whether they're famous or not, and now Grande is a super successful singer who seems much happier.