How Ariana Grande & Elizabeth Gillies "Reprocessed" 'Victorious' After 'Quiet on Set' Doc

Ariana Grande came through for Elizabeth Gillies in this sticky situation. 

Nearly five months after Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV saw several former Nickelodeon child stars speak out about the toxic environment at the network—namely on shows involving former producer Dan Schneider—the Victorious alum recounted her experience watching the docuseries with her former costar. 

“I certainly reevaluated my experience with Ariana over FaceTime,” Gillies told Variety in an interview published July 16. “We watched it together, and then we got together later that week or the next week, and we sort of broke the whole thing down and talked about it, and reprocessed everything together. There was a lot to go through.”

Gillies also explained that while she didn’t consider her time on set as abusive at the time, it was important for her to revisit her time on the show through the documentary—which saw former actors and writers opening up on sexism and racism, as well as emotional abuse on Schneider’s sets. 

photosNickelodeon Stars Then and Now

“It’s tricky when you look back on something incredibly positively, and then you learn a lot of information and also revisit things as an adult through a new lens that reframe the memories in your mind a little bit, or cloud them, or taint them—maybe rightfully so,” Gillies—whose husband Michael Corcoran composed theme songs for several of Schneider’s Nickelodeon shows—continued. “So, taking that time to thoughtfully look back, reassess and reevaluate was an important thing to do, and that’s something we did.”

While Gillies’ character nor her experience were directly touched on during the five-part Quiet on Set series, the documentary examined Victorious as a show including many sexual innuendos inappropriate for child stars to be a part of. 

The Dynasty actress noted her gratitude for having close ties to Grande as well as the rest of the Victorious cast—which includes Victoria Justice, Avan Jogia and Leon Thomas III—as she reflected on her time as a child actress. 

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“I’m very lucky I have such a close relationship with my cast—and with Ari—and that we were all able to do that together,” Gillies noted. “We definitely leaned on each other, talked amongst each other and checked in with each other.”

For her part, Grande echoed Gillies’ sentiments while opening up on the documentary series—noting she’s still unpacking her memories and how she was treated on set. 

“My relationship to it has and is currently and has been changing,” Grande explained on Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed in June. “We were told, and convinced, that it was the cool differentiation. Now looking back on some of the clips, I'm like, 'Damn, like really?' I just think about it, like if I had a daughter.”

Still, Grande emphasized she’s grateful for what Quiet on Set—which also saw Drake Bell come forward as the then-unnamed minor in convicted former voice coach Brian Peck’s 2004 sexual assault case—addressed. 

“I'm glad that this conversation is happening here and also in the world because it's also just kind of a cultural shift that's happening where it's not just actors and singers and whatever," Grande added. “If you ask anyone who's ever worked if they've dealt with a boss that had a really bad ego and temper and whatever, or if they've been sexually harassed or even assaulted—it's everywhere.”

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In May, Schneider sued the producers of the popular documentary saying the series “falsey implied” he was a sexual abuser, noting in documents obtained by E! News that he “condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.”

“There is no doubt that I was sometimes a bad leader,” Schneider added in a statement to E! News. “I am sincerely apologetic and regretful for that behavior, and I will continue to take accountability for it. I have no objection to anyone highlighting my failures as a boss, but it is wrong to mislead millions of people to the false conclusion that I was in any way involved in heinous acts like those committed by child predators.”

E! News previously reached out to Investigation Discovery for comment on the lawsuit on behalf of Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Discovery, Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television, but didn’t hear back. 

Keep reading to unpack all that Quiet on Set’s biggest bombshells.