A reader found an error in Cynthia Erivo’s new memoir, the Washington Post reports.
Cassie Plumridge, a fan of the Wicked movies based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel and the subsequent stage musical, was reading the actor’s Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much, published last month by Flatiron, when she came across a passage that sounded familiar to her.
“I’ve been a specimen in a petri dish since I was a teenager,” the passage reads. “I’ve heard it all, every version of what’s wrong with me. And when I fix it, then it’s wrong for different reasons. Maybe you’ve felt the same?…If you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, Oh, my god, you look skinnier, what’s wrong? Or someone else says, You look heavier, what happened? That is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening.”
Plumridge soon realized that she had seen an interview with Erivo and Wicked co-star Ariana Grande in which Grande was asked about how she deals with pressure about her looks.
“I’ve been a specimen in a petri dish really since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” Grande replied. “I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me, and then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons.…Even if you go to Thanksgiving dinner and someone’s granny says, Oh my god, you look skinnier, what happened? or, You look heavier, what happened? It’s like—that is something that is uncomfortable and horrible no matter where it’s happening, no matter the scale it’s happening on.”
Flatiron said in a statement, “A chapter introduction, which included correct attribution, was inadvertently left out of the book. We have immediately updated the file to the corrected version, which will be used going forward in all formats including all future printings of the physical book. We are deeply apologetic for this oversight and thankful that we are able to correct it.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
