‘ARIANA?’
The biggest pop star on the planet (in terms of success, not her diminutive stature) stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face me.
‘Piers Morgan,’ I clarified as she peered towards me, bemused.
‘Piers…Morgan…’ she repeated, slowly. ‘Oh. My. God.’
I’ve been called worse.
It was an unlikely setting for a peace summit.
We were both by chance at the same LA restaurant on Tuesday night – the Ocean Prime steakhouse in Beverly Hills.
It was 9.45pm and we were pretty much the last people left in the place – me with my manager John Ferriter at one table, she with her 8-strong record producer team at another, celebrating her historic chart success this week in which she became the first solo artist ever to simultaneously have the top 3 singles in the Billboard Hot 100.
(Her week was to get even better when she won Best International Female at the BRIT awards on Wednesday).
What made our encounter slightly awkward is that three months ago, Ms Grande and I got into an unseemly Twitter squabble.
Ariana, 25, squeezed into our banquette table at the Ocean Prime steakhouse in Beverly Hills and said: 'I want to persuade you to be a feminist - a proper one'. ‘I AM a proper one,’ I said, leading to a fun, fiery debate. She with her 8-strong record producer team at another, celebrating her historic chart success this week in which she became the first solo artist ever to simultaneously have the top 3 singles in the Billboard Hot 100
She’d taken exception to me criticising British pop group Little Mix for posing naked with insults like ‘slutty’ ‘ugly’ ‘fat’ and ‘weak’ painted on their bodies. I thought it was crude, cynical sexual exploitation designed purely to sell records
Ariana thought differently, raging: ‘I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because I choose to. Women can be sexual AND talented, naked and dignified. It’s OUR choice and we will keep fighting til people understand.’ When I questioned this premise, she spat back at me: ‘I look forward to the day you realise there are other ways to go about making yourself relevant than to criticize young beautiful successful women. I think that’s a beautiful thing for you and your career…or what’s left of it’
In 2017, I wrote a column heavily criticising her for flying straight home after the appalling ISIS terror attack at her Manchester concert, in which 22 people were killed and scores more badly hurt. I thought she should have stayed to visit her wounded fans and families of those who had died. Then I wrote a public apology to her a few weeks later when she DID fly back to Manchester, hosted a massive show to raise money for the victims, and showed extraordinary courage in marching out on stage on her own to address the huge crowd when she must have been very nervous and scared
She’d taken exception to me criticising British pop group Little Mix for posing naked with insults like ‘slutty’ ‘ugly’ ‘fat’ and ‘weak’ painted on their bodies.
I thought it was crude, cynical sexual exploitation designed purely to sell records.
Ariana thought differently, raging: ‘I use my talent AND my sexuality all the time because I choose to. Women can be sexual AND talented, naked and dignified. It’s OUR choice and we will keep fighting til people understand.’
When I questioned this premise, she spat back at me: ‘I look forward to the day you realise there are other ways to go about making yourself relevant than to criticize young beautiful successful women. I think that’s a beautiful thing for you and your career…or what’s left of it.’
Ouch.
To make it worse, her attack got a gazillion retweets as her 60 million fans gleefully spread the word.
This wasn’t the only tricky history between us: in 2017, I wrote a column heavily criticising her for flying straight home after the appalling ISIS terror attack at her Manchester concert, in which 22 people were killed and scores more badly hurt.
I thought she should have stayed to visit her wounded fans and families of those who had died.
Then I wrote a public apology to her a few weeks later when she DID fly back to Manchester, hosted a massive show to raise money for the victims, and showed extraordinary courage in marching out on stage on her own to address the huge crowd when she must have been very nervous and scared.
We stared at each other like two dogs meeting for the first time on a beach, eyeing up whether to wag our tails at each other or have a fight
So now here she was, my pint-sized nemesis – standing just 5ft 3in tall, wearing a large sweatshirt and very small shorts, and with her striking brown eyes blazing defiantly at me.
She walked over and shook my hand.
‘Sorry I didn’t recognise you,’ she said, ‘I’m so blind I can’t see past my nose….anyway, I want to sit down with you and have a chat.’
‘OK,’ I replied. ‘Then sit down.’
Ariana, 25, squeezed into our banquette, along with her friend, singer-songwriter Victoria Monet (who co-wrote Grande’s recent monster hit album ‘thank u next’).
‘Congratulations on making history,’ I began.
‘Thank you, it’s nice of you to say that, but it’s not what I want to talk to you about. I want to persuade you to be a feminist.’
‘I’m already a feminist,’ I replied.
‘No, I mean a proper one.’
‘I AM a proper one.’
We stared at each other like two dogs meeting for the first time on a beach, eyeing up whether to wag our tails at each other or have a fight.
‘Well you have a funny way of showing it,’ she scoffed. ‘You’re always telling women how to dress and behave.’
‘No, I’m not. I just don’t think female stars with millions of young female fans should use nudity as a commercial tool. I don’t think that’s feminism, it’s exploitation.’
‘No it’s NOT!’ she seethed. ‘A woman should be able to do whatever she wants, without limits and without some man always criticising her.’
‘So, women can murder people?’
‘Sorry, WHAT? No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘So, there are limits then?’
‘To committing murder, yes! But there’s nothing empowering about murder.’
‘Those doing it might disagree, but you get my point. There are always limits, to everything. And now we’ve established there are limits to feminism, what did you think about Kim Kardashian and Emily Ratajowski when they posted topless selfies of themselves flipping the bird? How is that remotely empowering?’
‘It’s empowering because they are both free to do whatever they want with their bodies, and if they want to express themselves in that way, that is their choice and their right.’
‘Sure, but isn’t it also my choice and right to criticise them for it?’
‘Why should you?’
So now here she was, my pint-sized nemesis – standing just 5ft 3in tall, wearing a large sweatshirt and very small shorts, and with her striking brown eyes blazing defiantly at me. She walked over and shook my hand
‘Because I think it sends the wrong message to young girls that the only way to succeed in life is to strip off and be rude.’
‘No, it tells them that they shouldn’t have to get a man’s permission to do what they want with their bodies. It’s their life, their body. There’s such a double standard – male stars like Justin Bieber go topless all the time but nobody attacks him for it. I’m sure Kim and Emily did that picture because they were sick and tired of people criticising them all the time.’
‘No,’ I interrupted, ‘they did it for commercial gain. Their careers are literally built on taking their clothes off and they’ve made millions doing it. They don’t have a world class talent like you.’
I mentioned how I mock-tweeted about Kim Kardashian two nights ago when she appeared at a Hollywood beauty awards show in a tacky, cleavage-bulging bondage style black cut-out Thierry Mugler dress.
Ariana thought for a few seconds.
‘Let me say this: when you criticise women for what they wear like that, you don’t know what else they’ve been trying on to get to that point. You don’t know all the stress, and all the outfits, they’ve gone through trying to decide what will work and won’t work. It can be so nerve-wracking. You also don’t know how much they’ve been body shamed and what effect that has on any woman. It can make you feel horrible.’
These were good points, but she needed a better example to illustrate them than the world’s most shameless clotheshorse.
‘Kim Kardashian wears this outrageous stuff specifically so we all talk about it,’ I protested, ‘it’s literally her brand.’
‘OK, but you were so wrong about Little Mix. I toured with those girls and I understood exactly what they were doing and saying. They were standing up for all girls who’ve been called those horrible names, and saying it doesn’t matter what people call you, you should feel proud of yourself and your body, and strong. I felt that when I saw their photo.’
‘You did?’
‘Yes. I used to be called all those horrible names myself, long before I was famous or even an adult. So with respect, I can relate to what young girls go through far better than you.’
‘I accept that. But I have a 7-year-old daughter, I don’t want her thinking nudity is the route to success. That is my concern.’
‘I understand that, I do,’ she said, but you should want your daughter to grow up believing she is free to do what she wants with her body and with her life.’
‘I do, but whilst I believe you when you say YOU don’t use nudity or sex as a cynical commercial tool, and that for you it is a form of art attached to your performing, there are some
