‘I mean, wow’: Ariana Grande comes clean about whether or not she and Cynthia Erivo are secretly married

It’s been nearly three months since its debut in cinemas, and Wicked‘s popu-lahrity is still going as strong as expected. Its $723 million box office deadlift has since been boosted by a whopping 10 Academy Award nominations, among them a Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nod for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, respectively.

It’s not terribly difficult to see why; the duo’s chemistry as Elphaba and Glinda could turn salt water into ice cream. The pair is so beloved, in fact, that Elphaba-Glinda fanfiction has become something of a lucrative currency, much to the shock of Grande herself, per her recent profile on The Hollywood Reporter.

… people think we’re secretly married… the Gelphie stuff… I wish I could unsee some things. I mean, wow, I had a feeling, but I didn’t know it would be on this scale or this graphic.

“Gelphie,” in this case, being the ship name of Elphaba and Glinda. A ship name, meanwhile, being a combination of two characters’ names to denote romance-driven fan stories involving said characters. Those familiar with the high seas of fanfiction websites will know that already; an advantage that Grande, evidently, did not have when she signed on for an adaptation of one of the most beloved musicals of all time.

The pop star-turned-Oscar-nominee alludes to some “graphic” material that she wishes she could “unsee,” but we’ll spare you the speculation on what she specifically means there. One thing is for sure, though; the online obsession with Glinda and Elphaba is but one ornament on the tree that is Wicked‘s cultural significance, which itself is likely playing no small part in its awards season run.

Indeed, the preceding stage musical — an adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, itself based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — teed Wicked up for a lot of love early on, first from Maguire himself, and then from the likes of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda on Broadway. Grande’s casting no doubt brought the film a lot of attention from her musical fanbase as well.

Then TikTok pounced on the hype, with Wicked fans old and new quickly flooding the algorithm with a plethora of songs and dances from the film. More recently, per EOnline, Taylor Swift — who is, of course, capable of shifting the entertainment industry with a tweet — recreated the “holding space” TikTok trend with Cynthia Erivo at the 2025 Grammy Awards, further proving the chokehold that Jon M. Chu’s fantasy musical has on the world.

And now, it’s the Oscars broadcast that stand to benefit from Wicked‘s prominence most of all. What better way to have viewers tune in to your ceremony than by making sure the internet’s favorite movie is well-represented among the nominees? Not to discredit Wicked‘s significant technical achievements nor the inch-perfect character work from Grande and Erivo, of course, but we mustn’t forget that the Academy once believed that Top Gun: Maverick deserved a Best Picture nomination over Till and The Woman King, despite its most notable merit being its $1.49 billion box office haul.

In short, no, Grande and Erivo are not secretly-or-otherwise married, and it’s entirely possible that the Academy isn’t a sincere body. We are, therefore, much better off treating the Oscars as a fun, celebratory event rather than an arbiter of who’s better than who. That’s probably how the Munchkins treat Oz’s various award shows.