United Kingdom, Jan. 14 -- Ariana Grande says Mac Miller "encouraged her to be herself" as she moved into music.

The Wicked actress has recalled her experiences leaving Nickelodeon sitcom Sam and Cat as she started working on her 2013 debut album Yours Truly, and her late ex-boyfriend - who she dated from 2016 to 2018 - encouraged her to "shed that character" and move on.

Speaking on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, she said: "I've never talked about this, but actually Malcolm, whom you might know as Mac, encouraged me to be myself. "And that it was OK to kind of shed that character, and embrace my brown hair, and make R B-influenced pop music and separate and do the brave thing.

"I never said that. But it was a great i...