Cynthia Erivo has called the attention on her friendship with Wicked co-star Ariana Grande "weird".

The 39-year-old actress starred as Elphaba in the 2024 movie, opposite Ariana as Glinda, with the pair both reprising the roles for the 2025 sequel Wicked: For Good.

The press tour for the latter sparked millions of memes poking fun at what appeared to be an intense bond between the co-stars, but Cynthia told The Guardian that the attention was bizarre to her.

She sighed: "It was interesting that there were many people who had become psychologists from their couches. There was this weird sort of, what's the word I'm looking for … annoyance … at the fact that two women could actually be friends.

"Like, why are they friends? Why are they connected? There must be something wrong with them."

Cynthia added that she needed some kind of co-ordinator to advise her on exactly how much emotion it was o to show.

She added: "It's a double-edged sword. Because if we were dead behind the eyes and showing no emotion, there would have been something else to say about it.

"I wish there was someone who could have been like, 'Right, this is the proper balance of emotion that you should show. Don't show this. Don't show that. Just this.'"

The pair hit the headlines even more when an Australian prankster rushed the red carpet at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore, grabbing Ariana by the arm in a bid to try and take a picture with her.

In photos and video from the incident, Cynthia could be seen using her body to protect her co-star, but later said she felt that her "humanity had been bastardised" in way people were talking about what had happened.

Speaking to The Guardian further about the incident, which she called "terrifying", Cynthia explained: "I was like: 'Oh, you think because I look like this that you could talk to me this way about something that was a human thing that I would have done for any friend, and hopefully a friend would have done for me', But I must be a bodyguard.

"I think the idea that it's OK to rip a person to shreds in that way when they're doing something that's a naturally human thing to do just felt crazy.

"I think that this particular moment went just too far."