Ariana Grande breaks down in tears describing her dad's reaction to decision to change her name

Ariana Grande found herself trying to hold back tears as she described her dad's reaction to learning she had changed her name in his honor.

'Ariana Grande' is a name known across the globe, but when the singer took on the role of Glinda in the upcoming musical movie Wicked, she decided to switch things up a bit.

In the credits for the movie, Grande's name will appear as 'Ariana Grande-Butera', in reference to the last names of both her mom, Joan Grande, and her dad, Edward Butera.

Explaining her decision during an interview on The Streaming Service with Justin Hill, Grande said the full title was her 'little girl name'.

"Technically it's little Ari's name," she continued. "But, no, I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me.

"I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda, from [Cynthia's character] Elphaba and, you know, that was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old—and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that."

Grande has since opened up about how her dad reacted to learning the news, getting emotional herself as she recalled the moment.

Grande stars alongside Cynthia Erivo in Wicked (Universal Pictures)

She had to be comforted by her Wicked co-star, Cynthia Erivo, as she held back tears, saying: "Oh man... he cried.

"He cried and, you know, that was my name when I first saw Wicked and I do feel, not to sound like a broken record, but I do feel like this role and this project helped me sort of come home to little Ari. Maybe little pieces of her got lost along the way..."

Grande went on to say the decision to include her father's last name on the credits was one that happened 'so randomly', recalling the moment she texted her co-star to let her know.

"And my dad cried, I surprised him, [director] Jon [M. Chu] was so generous - he sent me the credits because he knew that people were going to start seeing it soon and he was scared someone was going to talk about it before [my dad] got to see it.

"So I pulled it up on my laptop and I recorded him secretly.... it was a big surprise and he cried, it was very emotional."

Ariana discussed why she chose to be “Ariana Grande-Butera” in the credits for ‘Wicked’ & the emotional moment she told her father
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— TheGrandeTop10☀️ (@TheGrandeTop10) November 12, 2024

Grande's brother, Frankie Grande, spoke about the family's excitement for Grande's role in the movie at its premier, according to E! News.

He said: "Obviously, coming from a musical theater family and a musical theater background, just knowing that she was going to get to live this dream that I have watched her dream about for so long, for her entire life.

"It's very hard to put into words, but I'm just so proud of her."

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