Tired. That’s how the normally indefatigable multihyphenate Ariana DeBose is feeling this bright mid-May morning. Tucked away in a cozy-looking nook of her sunlit New York City apartment, DeBose is sporting a simple gray hoodie, a halo of delightfully unruly curls, and a wry “the show must go on” smile. She was up early recording voice overs for Apple TV+’s Fraggle Rock reboot, just finished a meeting about an upcoming film project, and tonight she’ll be onstage at a fashion charity event—this all one day after the photo shoot for this story. “That just seems to be the season I’m in,” she says, relaxing into her wingback chair. “There’s always something to do.” As she’s discussing her jam-packed schedule, her cat, Frederick Douglass (a husky Blue Russian named after the famed abolitionist), suddenly insinuates himself into our conversation, purring his feline two cents. “He talks a lot,” DeBose tells me. “He has much to say.” So, what exactly would the chatty Mr. Douglass have to say about her at this moment? “That mommy works too much, and it’d be really great if she’d take a vacation and just be home,” she responds before bursting into laughter. “That’s what Freddy would say about me.”
