‘So nice to my mom’: Ariana Grande on meeting Robert De Niro 11 years ago
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande and Robert De Niro took a nostalgic detour—teasing the shared throwback that links them without giving away the why.
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande didn’t just plug a new movie — she pulled out a memory. Fallon surprised the couch with an old backstage selfie of Grande and Robert De Niro, snapped when she met him on the show about 11 years ago, long before they’d end up sharing a call sheet.
Grande laughed seeing the photo again and clocked how young she looked in it.
“Look at how cute and little wierd,”
she said, adding that she’d worked up the nerve to approach De Niro that night.
“I was so excited. I asked him for a selfie. You were so nice to my mom,”
Grande told De Niro on the show.
De Niro, for his part, has been publicly complimentary of Grande. In a recent appearance on Today, he said he still hadn’t gotten to the Wicked movies but planned a father-daughter viewing.
“No, I haven’t. I’m trying to see it with my daughter,”
he said, before offering a quick review of the pop star turned actor:
“Yeah, she’s terrific. She’s great.”
Back to the Fockers
The reunion comes as Grande teams with De Niro and Ben Stiller in the next entry of the comedy franchise, Focker-in-Law. Billed as the fourth film in the Focker lineup and a follow-up to 2010’s Little Fockers, the story centers on Greg and Pam Focker’s son, Henry, who wants to marry Olivia Jones — a match his family isn’t convinced about.
De Niro and Stiller return to their familiar roles from the earlier movies, while this marks the first time Grande and De Niro have worked together on a project.
- Ariana Grande
- Robert De Niro — returning
- Ben Stiller — returning