“Here’s the thing, there are people who do not have nails who need to check how they’re wiping,” the ‘Wicked’ star said
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Cynthia Erivo doesn’t think her talon nails get in the way of her bathroom duties.
While appearing on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman to discuss Wicked, Shepard asked Erivo, 37, if her long talon nails make it difficult to wipe her behind after going to the bathroom. Before Shepard, 49, even finished asking the question, the Oscar nominee knew exactly what was coming.
“I knew you would ask that question,” she said, adding that “no one’s afraid” to ask it.
“My answer is that nobody uses just their fingers to wipe their backside,” Erivo continued. “You use tissue, correct? And you wipe!”
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Shepard then rephrased his question. “Does the tissue go on the tip of the fingernails, or do you try to get the tissue…” he said before trailing off. “Pads of the fingers,” Erivo said.
“Great, great, great, now we’re getting somewhere,” Shepard said. “Then you’re just feeling the little tickle of the nails on the crack of your butt sometimes?”
Erivo said this was not the case because she uses tissues.
After joking that he would make a mitten out of toilet paper if he had nails like Erivo, Shepard asked her if she was offended or annoyed by the question.
“I’m annoyed by it. I’m, like, ‘Come on, guys,’ ” Erivo said. “But I get it, but it’s also, like, ‘I’m a functioning adult, and I’ve never walked around smelling like, you know…’ ”
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Shepard felt that because everyone thinks Erivo sells “so good, it begs the question, ‘How are you wiping your tush?’ “
“Very well,” Erivo said, as Padman, 37, explained that the question is likely a reflection of the people asking because they couldn’t properly wipe with nails like Erivo’s.
“Here’s the thing, there are people who do not have nails who need to check how they’re wiping,” Erivo said.
Before moving on to the next subject, Erivo joked that people ask her how she gets anything done with her nails. “And I’m like, ‘I mean, I’m here!’ “ she said. “I’m dressed.”
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Erivo’s talon nails have been on display during her tour to promote Wicked alongside Ariana Grande. The two often wear designs that reflect their onscreen characters, with Erivo channeling Elphaba and Grande bringing Glinda to life.
Wicked opens on Friday, Nov. 22. The second part, Wicked Part Two, opens on Nov. 21, 2025. Jon M. Chu directed the movie, which costars Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James and Keala Settle.