Ariana Grande, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro took over NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Sunday to promote their upcoming comedy sequel, “Focker-in-Law.” During the visit, Grande managed to fool both of her veteran co-stars during a deception game called “True Confessions,” Billboard and TheWrap reported.
In the game, players take turns presenting unusual personal stories, leaving fellow participants to interrogate them and determine whether the tale is genuine or fabricated. Grande told the panel that at age four, she accidentally fell into an enormous aquarium tank in her hometown in Florida while watching her older brother, Frankie, scuba dive.
“I was little and clumsy,” Grande told De Niro, Stiller and host Jimmy Fallon, according to Billboard. Grande claimed she leaned over after spotting her brother while in the arms of a friend’s mother. After the three men unanimously concluded she was being honest, Grande celebrated her victory while admitting she had invented the entire scenario, calling it “the worst lie.”
Truth, Fiction and Unexpected Interrogations
The deception was not one-sided. Stiller shared that he once stood inside the recording booth when rock band Foreigner recorded their hit ballad “I Want to Know What Love Is.” The panel dismissed the claim as fiction, only for Stiller to confirm it was actually true, Billboard reported.
Fallon also offered up an unconventional confession, asserting that director Penny Marshall once attempted to pop a pimple on his face while they were visiting actress Ellen Barkin’s home, according to TheWrap. De Niro lent unexpected credibility to Fallon’s claim, recalling that Marshall had examined his skin in similar fashion when they collaborated on the 1990 film “Awakenings.”
De Niro then pressed Fallon on what Marshall did with the blemish after popping it, an inquiry that left Grande visibly stunned, TheWrap reported. The group ultimately concluded Fallon had made up the story, but the late-night host revealed the interaction genuinely happened.
Joining the Meet the Parents Universe
The appearance marked Grande’s first public outing since she revealed an indefinite hiatus from touring and music following the close of her Eternal Sunshine Tour in September, according to Yahoo. In “Focker-in-Law,” the fourth entry in the Meet the Parents film series, Grande portrays Olivia Jones, a romantic partner to Greg Focker’s son Henry, portrayed by Skyler Gisondo.
Grande noted during the broadcast that her introduction to the franchise involved immediately performing physical comedy with Stiller. On her first day of rehearsal, the stunt crew directed her to practice administering the Heimlich maneuver on Stiller for several hours, Rolling Stone reported.
Stiller, who reprises his role as Greg Focker opposite De Niro’s Jack Byrnes, revealed he felt intimidated having to perform music on set in front of Grande, Yahoo reported. Stiller had to sing John Legend’s ballad “All of Me” directly to De Niro during a scene.
“As we all know, I’m a professional singer,” Stiller joked, adding that attempting to sing to De Niro with Grande watching brought the experience to another level. Grande called his singing “beautiful,” and De Niro remarked that he was pleased with how the sequence turned out.
The visiting cast members also helped kick off the holiday season by singing “O Christmas Tree” to celebrate the arrival of the 2026 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree outside the studio, and they collaborated with Fallon on a satirical sketch titled “Slow Clap Soap Opera.” “Focker-in-Law,” which also sees returning cast members Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo, arrives in movie theaters later this month.
