Ariana Grande‘s performance during Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards featured a very expensive wardrobe malfunction viewers may have missed.
Several minutes into the 24-year-old pop star’s rendition of “No Tears Left to Cry,” her necklace — a diamond choker by Djula worth a whopping $169,000 — suddenly went missing, prompting her team to conduct a frantic sweep of the stage and its surrounding areas.
According to Djula’s PR rep, the choker’s clasp “had a faulty mechanism,” which caused it to fall off while Grande performed her choreography.
“This is the first time a piece has broken while a celebrity was wearing it,” the rep told Page Six, adding that it would be “unrealistic” to send security to guard pricey gems whenever they’re loaned to stars. “Luckily, the piece didn’t slide off the stage! It was found on the side of the stage in a far corner, to everyone’s relief.”
The rep wasn’t sure exactly how long the choker — which features more than 45 carats of diamonds — was MIA, only that “it was recovered before the end of the awards show.”
