Pop star Ariana Grande recently expressed feeling “discouraged” and apologized to actress Cassandra Peterson, known as Elvira, after discovering she had unintentionally offended her in the past. At a Halloween event at Knott’s Berry Farm in California, Elvira opened up about her worst celebrity encounter, revealing that the Thank U, Next singer once refused to take a photo with her.

Peterson shared that when Ariana attended her event with a group of friends and family, she graciously agreed to take photos with everyone except Elvira. This unexpected refusal surprised the Queen of Halloween. Following the resurgence of Elvira’s story in headlines, Ariana acknowledged her previous actions, explaining that she didn’t remember the encounter due to an “anxiety attack” at the time.

After The Working Girls star shared this past incident on Instagram, Ariana decided to share her side of the story in the comments section. She wrote: “I am so disheartened to see this. In fact, I don’t even remember having the chance to meet you because I had a panic attack and, as I recall, I left before the rest of my family (that was ago (about 7 years old and at the time, I really wasn’t good at being in public crowds or noisy places), but if I remember this moment wrong, I sincerely apologize for offending you in this way. Thank you for being so nice to my mother, she told me how lovely you were. You will always be our Halloween queen.”

Recalling the incident at the recent Halloween event, Elvira explained: “She came and she brought 20 guests. So she wanted 21 tickets. We’re like, “Okay,” and we give her the tickets and she comes back backstage and she asks me if I can take pictures with all her friends and relatives that she brought. I take a photo with each of them, I sign autographs for each of them. Then I say to her, “Could we take a photo together,” and she says, “No, I don’t really do that.” I mean, come on, okay and then she left before my show started. All her relatives stayed and she left.”

After wrapping up, someone from the audience shouted, “She’s playing the bad witch,” referring to Ariana Grande’s upcoming role in the film Wicked, where she plays the good witch, Glinda, opposite Cynthia’s Elphaba Erivo.

The first part of Wicked is scheduled to release on November 22, while the second part will be released a year later on November 26, 2025.