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16 Feb 2026 7:34
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Jennifer Coolidge has credited Ariana Grande with revitalising her career

    The 60-year-old actress has insisted the '7 Rings' hitmaker's impressions of her years ago on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' got the ball "rolling".


    Appearing on the show on Thursday night (20.01.22), she told the host:

    "You should know, it was sort of the beginning of a lot of cool things that happened for me.

    "I was going through a dead zone, not much was going on. Then Ariana did this imitation on your show and you encouraged her. And then this ball got rolling."

    The 'White Lotus' star admitted she initially didn't want to send Ariana a message about the imitation because she was certain she wouldn't get a reply.

    She added: "My friend who is her age, Theresa, she was like, 'You should DM Ariana.'

    "I thought it was such a good imitation and I was like, 'No, she's got like 260 million followers. Those are robots. The robots answer the DMs!

    We will never ever get to her.'

    "And I did it anyway and then this response came back. Next thing you know, I was going to her house getting fit for wardrobe for [the video for Ariana's 2018 single] 'Thank U Next.' That was all because of Jimmy Fallon."

    Meanwhile, the 'American Pie' actress recently compared the COVID-19 lockdown to "an acid trip" as she said she feared for her life amid the pandemic.

    She explained: "Being locked up during COVID was sort of like an acid trip or something ... I felt like I had taken some really weird drug because all of these scenes in my life were being played out. And I wasn't taking any drugs, I was just eating a lot.

    "I wasn't drinking alcohol. I just ... I felt like each day was sort of like I was hallucinating because my mother's death came up [in] all of these things. And I think it was just because, you know, I didn't really think we were going to survive the COVID thing.

    "I mean, I really didn't. I thought it was just a matter of time before it got all of us. And I felt like the moment was just lingering outside."

    © 2026 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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