FACT CHECK: Viral photo of Ariana Grande is AI-manipulated

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The original photo, taken during the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards in January 2025, shows the singer with slightly fuller cheeks

Claim: Singer and actress Ariana Grande is pictured during an awards ceremony, looking visibly thin with hollow cheeks.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The photo has already received 449,000 reactions, 46,900 comments, and 14,000 shares as of writing. 

The photo of the American singer has drawn concern among social media users, who noted her extremely thin appearance and hollow cheeks.

The facts: While the pop star has drawn fans’ concern over her thinner figure, the photo used in the misleading post was manipulated using AI tools. 

Results from the AI image detector Sight Engine indicate that the image is 99% likely to be AI-generated, with a 93% likelihood of face manipulation.

The image was a manipulated version of the original photo, which shows Grande at the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards in January 2025. This photo, showing the singer with slightly fuller cheeks, was manipulated to give her face a thinner appearance. The Facebook page did not attach any AI label to its post, misleading social media users into believing it was real. 

Weight loss: The actress’ significant weight loss has been widely discussed online since 2023. In her TikTok video released the same year, she addressed comments pointing out her body, saying that there are “different ways to look healthy and beautiful.” 

“The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” she said, adding: “I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly, and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy, but that, in fact, wasn’t my healthy.”

“No matter what, if you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is. Healthy or unhealthy, big or small, sexy not sexy, we just shouldn’t – we should really work towards not doing that as much. There are ways to compliment something or ignore something that you see that you don’t like,” she added. 

Grande, widely regarded as a pop icon and influential figure in music, recently starred in the film Wicked as Glinda.

Previous fact checks: Rappler has previously debunked similar false claims about celebrities: 

• FACT CHECK: No new Nicki Minaj-Cardi B song, promo image is AI-generated
• FACT CHECK: No reports of Alex Eala donating P3.9 million for homeless QC seniors 
• FACT CHECK: Image of Jackie Chan sculpting Duterte statue is AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: Taylor Swift is not TIME Magazine’s 2024 Person of the Year 

– Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com 

Angelee Kaye Abelinde is a student journalist based in Naga City, and an alumna of Rappler’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship 2024. 

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