On Friday, the stars lit up the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards, which honored the year’s best films. On the red carpet, friends Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez met and embraced, both wearing white. Gomez wore a three-piece suit tailored to fit her perfectly, with her hair back in a sleek bun. Grande wore a custom sleeveless Louis Vuitton gown in satin with a large bubble skirt.
In a clip posted on X, formerly Twitter, the pair were seen sharing an embrace and then holding hands after meeting. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gomez said of Grande, “It’s just so crazy because we’re experiencing things at the same time. We never grew up together personally, but we feel like we have. It’s really nice to be like, ‘Are you nervous?’ ‘Yes,’ ‘Are you nervous?’ ‘Yes.’ It’s fun. I’m proud of her, you know.”
Speaking to THR as well, Grande was equally effusive.
“Selena is the sweetest in the entire world, I love getting to finally sit down and talk to her at the Academy Gala thing…she had to give a speech and she was nervous…we talked about nerves and how beautiful it is to do what we do, but how it never gets old. How certain parts of it you’ll never get used to. It’s so beautiful to see her work that she’s done this year.”
The Wizards of Waverly Place star was joining the cast of Jacques Audiard’s film Emilia Pérez in Palm Springs, the recipient of the festival’s Vanguard Award. It was received by Gomez, the director, as well as Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Edgar Ramírez. Grande received the rising star award, presented to her by friend Jennifer Coolidge.
During her acceptance speech, the Wicked star joked, “You don’t know how much it means to me. I’ve been performing since I was a child, so I never thought at the age of 31 I would be hearing the words ‘rising star’ again, so I wanted to start by thanking my two friends: Botox and Juvederm.”
She added, “I thought I’d be hearing ‘slightly withering star’ or ‘drooping star’ by now so thank you.”