Ariana Grande Breaks Down in Tears on Last Day of Filming in Glinda’s Wicked Bubble: ‘I Need to Call My Therapist’

Ariana Grande’s attachment to her ‘Wicked’ character’s bubble was “comically overwhelming,” she commented on a behind-the-scenes video

Jack Smart is the Movies Staff Writer at PEOPLE. With 10 years of experience as an entertainment journalist, he previously worked at The A.V. Club and Backstage.

Published on December 13, 2024 04:30PM EST

Ariana Grande wasn’t lying about shedding tears on the set of Wicked.

In a behind-the-scenes video posted to Instagram by Grande, 31, and director Jon M. Chu, the actress can be seen reacting tearfully to her final day filming in her character Glinda’s magic bubble. Seated in her poofy pink gown within the bubble prop, Grande responds to Chu’s question about how she’s feeling: “Horrible. Terrible.” 

“I’m not getting up,” proclaims the “very emotional” Grande in the video. “I need to call my therapist, I really do. This is a mess.”

Wicked: Part One (in theaters now), adapted from the hit Broadway musical, stars Grande as Glinda the Good Witch opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Oz’s future Wicked Witch of the West. The “Yes, And?” singer’s Glinda kicks off the movie by entering Munchkinland within a floating bubble much like the character does in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. 

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Asked by Chu, 45, for her first impression of her regal bubble device, Grande quips, “I thought it was beautiful but I also thought it was a karaoke booth.” The video ends with a montage of shots from the actress’ final day filming on the Munchkinland set. 

Grande described the video in a caption as “attempting to say goodbye to my bubble after we finished filming my final scene in it… the attachment i felt to my wand and my bubble was comically overwhelming. (please feel free to laugh)”

Calling the bubble “a home away from home” for Glinda and a “safe place for all of her little secrets and truths,” Grande added that she misses the movie’s “physical pieces of her often,” including the character’s wand. “sorry this caption sounds like a literal eulogy,” she concluded the post. 

During a press tour often filled with tears, Grande told the hosts of Broadway Podcast Network’s Sentimental Men podcast in November, “Me, everyone, we all cried every day… It was really beautiful.” 

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Grande also shed a tear when presented with the original magic wand wielded by Billie Burke in The Wizard of Oz while on The Drew Barrymore Show on Dec. 5. 

Wicked: Part One is in theaters now, with Part Two slated for Nov. 26, 2025. The movies costar Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Ethan Slater and Michelle Yeoh. Go behind the scenes of Wicked with PEOPLE’s new special issue, available here.