Love conquers all … sometimes.
Manager-to-the-stars Scooter Braun had his first humbling experience at the hands of Ariana Grande, who fired him while she was dating a “s—ty boyfriend.”
“I watched this other manager get fired, and I saw him defend himself instantly and put out a lot of truths. And I watched the artist see those truths, not want to deal with it, and then forever hate that manager,” Braun told Variety. “And with Ariana, I could have said a lot of stuff, and in fact my team wanted me to, because they were pissed. But I said ‘We’re not gonna say a word, and this is gonna come back around.’ They were like, ‘Never take her back!,’ but I just said, ‘Let’s stay quiet and let our truth be our actions.'”
“And when s—ty boyfriends leave (laughter), she starts to see the light on some stuff, and one day I got a phone call,” Braun, who also manages Justin Bieber and Kanye West, continued. “She said ‘Can I see you tomorrow?’ and I said, ‘No, I’m busy’ — I actually couldn’t, so I said, ‘I could see you Thursday’ or whatever and I went over there and we had a very honest conversation.”
Getting the ax from Grande made Braun a “better manager” because the “God Is a Woman” singer showed him he wasn’t infallible.
“…it allowed me to know that I can be fired,” he shared. “I had never been fired before.”
In addition to the lesson, Braun and Grande came out of their feud closer than ever, which prepared them for a tragedy that would strike.
“And that relationship we had, from being fired to getting back together, really gave us the strength for what we never imagined would come that following year,” Braun explained, referring to the terrorist attack on Grande’s Manchester concert.
The two teamed up to host a benefit concert for those affected just two weeks later.
Their relationship still faces ups and downs, as Braun admitted that he was “frustrated” with the starlet after she bailed on a benefit concert performance in light of her troubles with ex-fiancé Pete Davidson.