Falling Apart
Following the horrific Manchester bombing, Ariana Grande struggles to cope
Ariana Grande suffers a breakdown after the terror attack at her Manchester, U. K., concert.
They were the most innocent of victims: children who had come to see their idol, Ariana Grande, in concert. Just after the pop singer ended her performance at England’s Manchester Arena on May 22, a cowardly attack by a suicide bomber left 22 dead — many of them young fans and their relatives — and scores more seriously injured. As authorities sprang into action that night and ISIS claimed responsibility, Ariana took to Twitter to say, simply: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”
The terrorist attack has left Ariana in worse shape than her tweet revealed. “She’s going through a very tough time and she’s really struggling,” Chris Gratton, the head of worldwide touring at Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, which manages her, exclusively, tells Life & Style. “It’s a scary, scary situation.”
In the days following the tragedy, the star canceled her Dangerous Woman tour dat es through June 5 and considered canceling more as she flew to her childhood home in Boca Raton, Fla., and holed up with her family and boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller. There, the 23-year- old has been spending her days crying and blaming herself. “Ariana isn’t doing well at all,” says an insider. “She feels responsible and can’t shake the sound of the bomb. But the screams are what make her incredibly emotional. She can’t stop thinking about them.”
AGONY & ANGER
In the midst of her own breakdown, the singer is focusing on the unspeakable pain of others. “She can’t even fathom what the parents of the kids that were killed or injured are going through,” says the insider. “She’s trying to be strong, but she’s confused and angry, and she wants revenge.”
Ariana’s loved ones, including her mom, Joan, (who reportedly guided young fans to safety in the moments following the attack) and Mac, 25, are doing everything they can to
comfort her. “She’s always with her family,” says Chris. “They’re really, really close.” But even with their support, the attack haunts her. “This,” says the insider, “will be with her forever.”
Her devastation is natural, says psychologist Dr. Julie Armstrong. “She needs to be held and comforted and reassured that she did not bring her fans in to put them in harm’s way,” Dr. Armstrong says. “She needs to be able to grieve.”
Ariana’s also determined to help. She and her father, Edward Butera, “are discussing organizing a fund to aid the victims,” says the insider. But no matter how she tries to heal, Ariana is forever changed. “She can’t shake the tragedy,” says the insider. “And she doesn’t know if she ever will.”