Tracy E. Gilchrist says the A Complete Unknown costars immediately recognized her for that viral moment that led to tears and confusion for both Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
It was perhaps the biggest viral moment among many during the promotional tour for Wicked, with this one so big it’s made a star of the interviewer; an unexpected place for most journalists.
And now, that “holding space” moment with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande has carried into a new interview with A Complete Unknown costars Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning.
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The duo adorably got just as excited at seeing interviewer Tracy E. Gilchrist this past week as she was to chat with them.
“This viral moment has been the wildest ride of my life, filled with so much laughter and joy,” Gilchrist told Out. “But this moment with Timothée and Elle was hilariously surreal.
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“Before I was even seated, Elle looked up, and saw me, and said, ‘Tracy! Oh, Tracy’s famous,'” Gilchrist recalled of their interview moment.
Right off the bat, Gilchrist assured the young stars that she was “holding space” for them, a clear callback to her unexpected viral moment.
Fanning quickly recalled another aspect of the viral moment from Gilcrhist’s interview with Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, sharing, “My sister and I do the finger-hold all the time,” with Gilchrist adding, “And I’m thinking, ‘Your sister, Dakota [Fanning]?!’”
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“Timothée said he couldn’t believe he was talking to me, and I’m sitting there thinking the same about them, these actors I’ve watched and admired for years,” Gilchrist continued, “It was an unexpected, adorable, and hilarious moment. I feel very lucky.”
Despite recreating the viral fingernail-holding moment with Chalamet, Fanning conceded there was “nothing we can do that can trump what happened.”
The hilarious recreation comes just a few weeks after both Grande and Erivo finally opened up about their experience with Gilchrist, revealing that despite Erivo’s tears and Grande’s sympathetic presence in that “holding space” moment … neither of them really knew what was going on.
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Speaking with Variety, the Wicked costars admitted they “didn’t know” what was going on even as it was happening. “I was surprised, because I had no idea. I hadn’t been looking [that much],” Erivo recalled of her apparent emotional response during the interview with Gilchrist.
“So I didn’t know what any part of it meant,” Grande chimed in, to which Wicked director Jon M. Chu, who joined her and Erivo for the conversation with Variety, laughed.
“I didn’t understand the first sentence. And then I definitely didn’t understand what was happening and how you responded,” Grande said to Erivo. “I was like, ‘Oh what did she say? What did you hear?’ And I just wanted to be there because I knew something big was happening. And I didn’t know how to be there.”
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Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo React to Viral ‘Holding Space’ Interview: ‘Didn’t Know What Any Part of It Meant’
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“After a while, I didn’t know how to be there,” Erivo joked, to which Grande continued, “She said something that meant something to her, then it meant something totally different to [Erivo], and then she tried to kind of get somewhere else.”
“The craziest thing was I remember in the moment asking myself, ‘Am I okay? Did I not hear something?’ … because she looks like she was about to cry again,” she added.
Ultimately, Grande said that she found the response from the viral interview moment to be “so beautiful.”
“I feel really relieved that the world had the same experience with this moment that I did, because I felt like, ‘Oh, I’m not broken,'” she quipped, to which Erivo added, “[I] do l love how the world has gone with it.”
Grande jokingly added, “The best thing to is to really hold space with that.”
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For those who don’t know, during a Wicked junket interview last month, Out Magazine journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist told Erivo that “people are taking the lyrics to ‘Defying Gravity’ and really holding space with that. And feeling power in that.”
When Erivo then appeared to get emotional, Grande seemingly went to grab her hand to comfort, but instead held on to her long, Elphaba-green painted fingernail.
Gilchrist previously opened up to Variety about her interview becoming a meme, where she also finally explained what “holding space” means to her.
“I was very inspired by Tony Morrison, [senior communications director] from GLAAD. He posted the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’ before I did my interview. It was a great explainer,” she told Variety.
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“‘Holding space’ is being physically, emotionally and mentally present with someone or something,” she continued. “For me, it means being in the moment, not being distracted and feeling something on a cellular level.”
“I think you can hold space with lyrics of a song – one you’ve heard hundreds of times – and it can suddenly take on new meaning when you’re a queer person,” she said, adding, “The Trump administration is targeting LGBTQ+ people via Project 2025. When Cynthia sings ‘I’m through accepting limits,’ there’s power in that.”
Gilchrist went on to note, “[Erivo] plays a character who is othered. One who comes to her full power when she is exiled by a charlatan, by a cruel leader. There’s a lot of resonance there right now for anyone who is marginalized. For me, holding space is listening to those lyrics anew and finding solace or inspiration.”
