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From her acting ambitions to her fashion choices, Ariana Grande has long been a modern-day replica of Audrey Hepburn.

The Wicked star has been vocal about her adoration of the Breakfast At Tiffany's star, but there are more worrying parallels between the two screen stars have started to emerge, beyond frothy fashion and acting awards.

It was confirmed on Sunday that Ariana has quit her upcoming London theatre role as she plans to take a break from public life amid struggles with 'ongoing public scrutiny' over her appearance.

The American singer and actress, 33, is currently on her Eternal Sunshine tour and plans to step back from the spotlight when it wraps in London on September 1.

Ariana's spokesperson told PEOPLE: 'Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility' adding that she will be taking 'a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny'.

This 'scrutiny' over Ariana's appearance intensified after her starring role in the two Wicked movies and the subsequent press tours in 2024 and 2025.

From her acting ambitions to her fashion choices, Ariana Grande has long been a modern-day replica of Audrey Hepburn

The Wicked star has been vocal about her adoration of the Breakfast At Tiffany's star, but there more worrying parallels between the two screen stars have started to emerge

During her 2024 Wicked press tour, the star wore a raft of outfits that looked as if they could have come straight from her idol Audrey's wardrobe, but more alarmingly her appearance sparked fears that rather than a playful nod to one of her icons through fashion, Ariana is going too far in her pursuit of emulating the star.

While Audrey is remembered as one of the most glamorous women of the 20th century, the truth of her life beyond her fame is extremely complicated, from childhood trauma and starvation to her life-long feeling of being lonely and unloved.

Audrey, who was born in 1929, suffered from childhood malnutrition while growing up in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during the Second World War, which stunted her growth and permanently affected her frame.

Speaking about her 2020 biopic, British film director Helena Coan told Harpers Bazaar that women should not try to emulate the star's body type.

'It was important for me to tell audiences that Audrey was so skinny because she starved,' she said. 'If you look at pictures of her before the war, she looked totally different. Her body is not something you should aspire to have; she ended up that way because she didn’t have a choice – as a result of tragedy.'

She added that the actress, who died from cancer of the appendix in 1993, wanted to 'change everything about herself' despite being regarded by many as the 'most beautiful woman that ever lived'.

'She wished she was blonde and that she had a fuller figure,' said Coan.

Audrey was born in Brussels, Belgium, in May 1929 her parents, Englishman Joseph Ruston and Dutch baroness Ella Van Heemstra, were both fascist sympathisers.

Ariana's fans have likened her style to Audrey Hepburn's including the silk wedding dress she wore for her nuptials to now ex husband Dalton Gomez (left). Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 film Funny Face (right)

Her father walked out on the family when Audrey was six years old, and her mother sent her to England where she spent time as a private school pupil in Kent and lived with a local family.

After the Second World War began, her mother fatefully opted to take her back to Arnhem in The Netherlands, just before Nazi Germany invaded the country.

Audrey and her family had to resort to eating food made from tulip bulbs to survive the ensuing famine, which killed as many as 20,000 people.

She was rescued by Unicef agents who pulled them from a basement at the end of the war, but was left seriously ill with jaundice, anaemia, oedema, and a respiratory infection.

After making a recovery she moved to London and tried to become a ballerina after winning a scholarship to the Ballet Rambert in Notting Hill, but was told because of the malnutrition she suffered, her weak constitution and height meant she would not succeed.

As an alternative she started acting, and appeared in West End musical – her background in musical theatre being another parallel with Ariana, who started her career in the Broadway musical 13 as a child actress.

Meanwhile, there are also parallels between the two actresses' relationships with men.

Audrey's first husband, Mel Ferrer was controlling and difficult, while her second husband Andrea Dotti cheated on her incessantly, which left her feeling insecure for life.

Ariana too has suffered her fair share of romantic heartache. She was married to real estate broker Dalton Gomez for three years, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2024.

Soon after their split became public she moved on to a controversial relationship with her current boyfriend and Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, who had only recently split from his childhood sweetheart Lilly Jay, not long after the couple welcomed their first child.

Meanwhile, there are also parallels between the two actresses' relationships with men, with Audrey's father walking out on her when she was six leaving a 'very deep mark' on her'

Ariana and Ethan recently split after three years together, with the actress now reported to be back with her ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez.

Despite her immense success, which saw Audrey pull off the rare feat of winning the most coveted four awards in entertainment – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony – she carried with her a deep sadness.

In one particularly emotional scene in the 2020 biopic, Audrey's granddaughter Emma breaks down in tears as she explains: 'My dad said about my grandmother that the best-kept secret about Audrey is that she was sad. It really makes me sad to think about. I really think she just wanted love, and to be loved.

'I think she got that in her life, but I don't think she got that from a lot of people. You know, for the woman who is most loved in the world to have such a lack of love is so sad.'

The root of this sadness can be traced back to the departure of her father when she was six years old.

'I learned as a child it's terribly important for a child to have a father. For having my father cut off, or he cut himself off, I was desperate,' she said.

'If I could have just seen him regularly, I would have felt he loved me, and I would have had a father.'

'You become very insecure about affection, and terribly grateful for it, and you have an enormous desire to give it.'

In another parallel with Audrey, Ariana too was estranged from her graphic designer father, who split from her mother, Joan, when the star was eight.

Eventually, the We Can't Be Friends singer and her father fell out of touch and had become estranged by 2013.

Ariana too was estranged from her father, who split from her mother, Joan, when the star was eight. They have since mended their relationship

As a result of their family dynamic, she chose to use her mother's last name, Grande, professionally, although some people suspect her close bond with her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Grande, may have also played a role in the name change.

She described their falling out as 'one of the hardest things' she had to deal with.

'It’s private… It took me so long to be okay with it,' she told Seventeen magazine in 2014.

'So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn’t like that about myself. I had to accept that it’s okay not to get along with somebody and still love them.'

But in more recent years father and daughter have reconnected and appear to be on a much more positive path forward in their lives.

Ariana has previously spoken of her love for Audrey and in 2010, she tweeted that Breakfast At Tiffany's was her favorite movie.

Elsewhere in a 2014 a New York Times profile she said she was trying to channel Audrey with her aesthetic when she released her 2013 debut Yours Truly.

Meanwhile the silk wedding dress she wore for her nuptials to now ex-husband Dalton Gomez, and her stylists on the Wicked tour have undoubtedly leaned into Audrey's aesthetic.

The pop star wore a custom silk Vera Wang number for her 2021 nuptials which took place in Montecito with just a small intimate ceremony.

Many compared the dress to the gown Hepburn wore in the 1957 film Funny Face where she played the role of Jo Stockton.

Ariana's appearance has come under more scrutiny in recent months, especially following the release of her new music video, Petal.

She has publicly insisted that she's healthy but that didn't stop fans from pointing out how incredibly gaunt she looks in the violent music video.

Ariana's appearance has come under scrutiny in recent months, especially following the release of her new music video, Petal

In the bizarre clip, Ariana plays the character of Pepper, an aspiring starlet who attends multiple auditions in a bid to become famous.

After failing yet another audition, a group of studio bigwigs brand Ariana 'unmarketable', 'unattractive', and 'inauthentic', before accusing her of having a personality disorder.

'We miss the old you,' one tells her. 'Maybe you could go out and find her and come back and give it another shot?'

Ariana leaves, only to return moments later with a chainsaw, which she uses to violently dismember the men.

Now drenched in blood, she returns to the waiting room, only to receive a round of rapturous applause from the other female auditionees.

Despite the clever social commentary in the video, many fans were more distracted by Ariana's weight than anything else.

'This is like looking at Karen Carpenter and everyone was like [shrug],' wrote one fan.

'I am actually so over us normalizing this and acting like this is okay,' wrote a second.

'Shocking and heartbreaking,' wrote a third.

Despite the concerned comments, other fans defended the singer and said that it was inappropriate to comment on her physical appearance.

'If y'all actually cared about her you wouldn't be publicly making comments about her body,' argued one.

'The irony of all the girls over 200 pounds saying she's 'unhealthy.' You think being 200 pounds is healthy? Good lord, the jealousy is screaming from you guys!' wrote another.

Ariana has hit back at people who have commented on her body multiple times previously.

In her 2024 song, Yes, And? from the album Eternal Sunshine, Ariana addresses the scrutiny over her appearance, singing: 'My face is sitting, I don't need no disguise.

'Don't comment on my body, do not reply. Your business is yours and mine is mine.

'Why do you care so much whose - I ride? 'Why?'

After 1967, and multiple plaudits, Audrey stepped back from the spotlight, choosing to devote more time to her family and charity work and acted only occasionally.

In January, Ariana admitted that it would be 'healthy' for her to take a career break.

She told Vogue Japan: 'I think that it would probably be healthy. I'm not used to taking breaks. But I do know that I grew so much from taking space from music while I was filming Wicked... But yeah, these past few years have been pretty non-stop. And by few, I mean 15.'

The Wicked: For Good actress explained that she is searching for more 'balance' in the years to come.

She said: 'Balance is the goal for the next 15 years. I don't think they will look like the previous 15 years. I think there will be more balance.'