The sad reason why Ariana Grande always wore oversized hoodies

Ariana Grande looked back on her signature look a few years back, revealing a sad truth behind it. 

While reviewing a gallery of her most famous outfits in a recent video for Vogue’s “Life in Looks” series, the 32-year-old Grammy winner revealed that her era of high ponytails and oversized sweaters masked a period of personal difficulty. She described it as "a very strange time in my life."

"I was processing a lot, and I always wanted to hide away in something really cozy," she explained.

"But I remember that the boots still made me feel c--t. I genuinely, at the time, did not have the mental energy to consider clothing. So the easiest thing for me was to throw on a sweatshirt and a c---y boot, and that was how it happened," Grande continued.

That era followed a period of profound personal and public tragedy for the singer.

In May 2017, a suicide bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, claimed 22 lives and left hundreds injured—an event Grande later disclosed left her with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. In a letter to fans, she reflected on the lasting impact of the tragedy, stating it would leave her "speechless and filled with questions" for the rest of her life.

Just over a year later, the death of her ex-boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, died of an accidental overdose at age 26. Addressing the loss in a 2019 Vogue cover story, Grande described the grief as "all-consuming" and pushed back against a wave of online trolls that blamed her for his death.

“People don’t see any of the real stuff that happens, so they are loud about what they think happened,” she shared. “They didn’t see the years of work and fighting and trying, or the love and exhaustion.”

It was also during this time that Grande ended her engagement with comedian Pete Davidson.