Ariana Grande has been criticized for having her bodyguard carry her to her dressing room. So does she have someone else do the driving for her, can she drive?
Ariana Grande didn’t get her license until she was 19 years old. In 2012, she went to the DMV to pick up her license with her Victorious co-star, Elizabeth Gillies. Two years after getting her license, Grande was in a car accident on her way to Big Sean’s house while the two were dating.
You can read more below about when she got her license, the car accident she was in, and how she practices safe driving.
Ariana Gets Her License
Back in 2012, when she was 19, the ‘7-Rings’ singer decided to finally go and get her driver’s license. She headed to the DMV with her good friend and co-star of the show Victorious, Elizabeth Gillies.
If you haven’t seen the show Victorious, it revolved around a performing arts high school, Hollywood Arts, and the teens who attended it.
Grande played the ditzy, kindhearted, and somewhat dim character Cat Valentine, who was known for her bright red hair. Elizabeth Gillies played the character Jade West who was the sometimes nemesis of the shows main character Tori, and also the best friend of Cat Valentine.
It makes sense that the two on-screen best friends would be friends in real life as well. So the two headed to the DMV.
After passing the test, Grande tweeted “We passed!!!!! #imdrivinghome #watchouteveryoneontheroad Eeep! I drove home and everyone lived! #greatnews”
Since their Victorious days, the two have actually managed to stay really good friends. This is despite both of their busy schedules and success; Liz is now the star of the TV show Dynasty.
They definitely still make time for each other. In 2019 while she was on her Sweetener tour, Grande actually had Gillies in attendance and got her old friend to come on-stage with her while she performed ‘Thank U Next.’
That wasn’t the only surprise that fans got either. Ari and Liz then took the opportunity to have a 2010 throwback.
They both grabbed a mic and sang the song ‘Give It Up’ from their Nickelodeon television days. You can watch both the Victorious and the Sweetener performances in the below video.
Grande’s Car Accident
In case you forgot, Ariana Grande dated Big Sean back in 2014 only five months after he had called off his engagement to Glee actress Naya Rivera. It was when Grande was on her way to see him that she was in a car accident.
Big Sean’s home at the time was up in a neighborhood in Los Angeles known as the Hollywood Hills. This area is famous for its winding roads and hairpin turns.
So if you’ve never driven in that area, it can be more than a little scary. This was less than two years after Ariana got her license so she was definitely very wary of where she was driving.
Grande recalled the incident in an interview with Marie Claire, saying “It was my first time going up those hills so I was going like 12 miles per hour. This lady was whipping around the corner, and I came to a complete stop so she bumped me really hard—the whole front of my Range Rover was wrecked.”
Apparently, the woman in the crash tried to pretend she had broken her leg after finding our Ariana was a singer.
Ariana Grande’s Safe Driving Practices
Despite that scary accident in the Hollywood Hills, Ariana practices all of the skills of a safe driver. For one, as she recalled in that interview, she was only going about 12-miles an hour up those hills.
Whenever Grande has posted selfies in a car, it’s when she is in the backseat. When she has been photographed driving in public she is always being safe.
As this Daily Mail article points out, the ‘Side to Side’ singer was seen driving her car with her phone set up on a hands-free mount in February 2020. She was also wearing an adorable Groot headband at the time.
She has also been seen out and about as a car passenger with another one of her best friends, Aaron Simon Gross. The two grew up together in Boca Raton, Florida.
They were spotted in May 2020, driving around town in a Tesla with their masks on.