Ariana Grande pays homage to her ‘Oz’ roots with emotional Oscar nomination reaction

Ariana Grande is pictured at the 'Journey Through Oz' Tour to celebrate the Australian premiere of 'Wicked' in Sydney in November.
By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN
(CNN) — Ariana Grande is a first-time Oscar-nominee and yep, you guessed it, she says she can’t stop crying about it.
Grande marked the milestone on Thursday with an emotional post on her Instagram page, coming just a few hours after she was nominated for best supporting actress for her role as Glinda in “Wicked.”
“Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition,” Grande wrote. “I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise.”
Grande shared photos in her post of herself as a young girl wearing a Dorothy costume in a nod to the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” as well as a video of herself as a youth singing a song from the Broadway production of “Wicked.”
“I’m humbled and deeply honored to be in such brilliant company and sharing this with tiny ari who sat and studied Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow just before the big, beautiful bubble entered,” Grande added. “I’m so proud of you, tiny.”
The Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott. “Emilia Pérez” led with 13 nods, followed by “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” with 10 each.
In addition to Grande’s nod, Cynthia Erivo – who played Elphaba in the film – earned recognition in the best lead actress category on Thursday.
“Moments like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, it is sacrilege to let them pass by without a moment of gratitude,” Erivo wrote on her Instagram page Thursday. “I am grateful, grateful to @theacademy, grateful to be a part of something that makes people feel seen, grateful to be a cog in the wheel of a piece that makes us believe in magic, grateful to have experienced a dream come true, and deeply deeply grateful for this unbelievable recognition.”
Erivo and Grande shared their gratitude for one another in their respective posts, with Erivo celebrating how she watched Grande “ascend and amaze and become the actress you were meant to be,” and Grande writing that Erivo’s “brilliance is never ending.”
In addition to the two acting nominations, “Wicked” earned a nod for best picture, among others. The Jon M. Chu-directed film also won a Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement earlier this month.
The second installment of Chu’s two-part adaptation, titled “Wicked: For Good,” will premiere in theaters in November.
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