As the two often appeared together through the grueling press cycle for both movies, discourse ranged from the meme-worthy to the concerning — especially speculation over their apparent weight loss.
One particular moment of worry happened at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good, when a man broke through the barrier and rushed at Ariana. After he grabbed her, Cynthia pushed the man away, in a moment that was captured and went viral.
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In an interview with Variety, Cynthia said that she and Ariana were "holding on by threads" during the four-year Wicked cycle, adding, "We were really trying to take care of each other."
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“It’s very interesting, watching what people’s perception is versus what the reality actually is,” she continued, with some sarcasm. "Lots of psychologists seated at home deciding who we were, what we were going through, what we were doing and why." She further denied allegations that the pair were faking their friendship, and said they still text most days.
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As for the moment in Singapore, Cynthia said that everyone was "terrified." She explained, "What people couldn’t see is that he wouldn’t let go [of Grande]. He wouldn’t let go. So I just kept pushing at him to get him off.”
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She took issue with people online describing her as Ariana's "bodyguard" in that moment. “I think that we haven’t really come to terms with the insidious nature of how we view Black women. And I’m sure people will read this and think, ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, it’s not about that.’ But it is," she said.
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“Because that’s what was being made fun of. It was my physique; it was my shape; it was the fact that I was bald; it was about what I looked like. And because of that, there was this assumption that I was bigger than my co-star and so I had to be controlling or protecting, and that was my role. I would hazard a guess that it would not have been the same had it been the other way around," she added.