Ariana Grande fans 'terrified' after lookalike turns up to red carpet event

Any loyal fan of Ariana Grande will likely know by now about the existence of Paige Niemann.

For those that don't - Paige is notorious around the world for being the pop star's doppelgänger, and has been imitating 31-year-old Grande on social media for several years now.

Yesterday, however, 20-year-old Niemann stepped out from behind the walls of her bedroom - where she primarily films her lookalike content - and attended a red carpet event, leaving spectators 'terrified' of her resemblance to the Wicked actress.

Who is Paige Niemann?

According to the Mail, Paige Niemann was first compared to then 22-year-old Disney Channel alum Ariana Grande on the playground when she herself was just 10.

In the years that followed, she leaned into her resemblance to the Hollywood star, and began churning both pictures and videos purposefully aimed at recreating some of Grande's signature looks.

The first photo on Niemann's personal Instagram account - from 2017 - shows her donning a red wig, seemingly imitating 'Cat Valentine', the character that Grande played on Nickelodeon's Victorious and Sam & Cat.

Throughout 2018-22, she mirrored the 'Side To Side' singer's brunette phrase - during which Grande often wore a lengthy ponytail and dramatic winged eye-liner as part of her everyday get-up.

Over the years, Niemann racked up millions of followers, and now boasts a staggering 10.3 million fans on TikTok.

In 2022, however, she began facing backlash from other Grande fans after she reportedly joined the subscription service OnlyFans - where she vowed to share 'exclusive content that you wouldn't normally see from me'.

Outraged fans took to X (formerly Twitter) at the time, to brand her 'weird', 'desperate' and 'creepy' for taking her resemblance to such an extreme, and potentially sharing x-rated content without Grande's permission.

And more recently, Niemann purchased a blonde wig and a full 'Glinda the Good' costume, going viral for her own TikTok rendition of 'What Is This Feeling?' from Grande's latest magical musical.

Red carpet 'terror'

As we say, however, earlier this week (27 Jan), Niemann made what she described online as her 'first red carpet appearance', attending the world premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' latest project, Companion, at the Hollywood Post 43 - American Legion.

Images of the California-born doppelgänger - donning a mesh black floor-length gown with spaghetti straps - are now doing the rounds online, much to the dismay of many Grande fans.

Reaching to one snap of Niemann shared on Instagram, one hit out: "I thought it’s a Madame Tussaud wax figure at first."

"Yeah I’m terrified too," another agreed.

"She even copied her eyebrows I-" a third chimed in.

A fourth went on: "The way she is trying to make dimples appear by forcing that smile it’s terrifying"

"Thought it was a bad wax figure until I read the caption," another wrote online.

What has Ariana Grande ever said about Paige Niemann?

According to Buzzfeed in 2019, Grande responded on X to a fans' theory about Niemann's antics, writing: "@knnewagb i just wonder whyyyy the cat voice / dialogue."

She is said to have continued: "i am sure she is the sweetest sweet sweetheart forreal !! but it’s definitley bizarre seeing people blend the two worlds lmao."

The news outlet alleges that, on another occasion, Grande shared a now-deleted video of another internet user discussing the concept of impersonation online.

The video in question supposedly saw filmmaker Jordan Firstman explaining: "What if we, like, we took a moment, like a small clip from a movie or a TV show — something that, like, an artist really poured their soul into and it, like, it just took them years to make, and it was an uphill battle the entire time — what if we took a moment from that and we kind of, like, recontextualised it?

"Like, does that make sense? And we put a completely arbitrary meaning onto that thing that the artist loves so much? Kind of, like, degrading its entire value?"

Firstman added: "I just think that could be, like, a fun, bitchy thing to do," he ends the video. "I'm so bored... I just kind of wanna ruin someone's life today."

Apparently, Grande re-shared the clip with her own caption, writing: "Can this please also double as your impression of the pony tail TikTok girls who think doing the Cat Valentine voice and that wearing winged eyeliner and a sweatshirt is doing a good impersonation of me...

"Cause this is really how it feels."

And in a promo interview for Wicked with Variety - where she was hooked up to a lie detecter and asked by co-star Cynthia Erivo whether she'd 'ever confronted' anyone who impersonated her - she began by claiming, 'No'.

Then, asked if she 'wanted to' - in a video which many fans interpreted as being about Niemann - Grande admitted: "Yes - in a fun way."