Jessica Potter tells PEOPLE the unexpected situation was “a dream come true”

NEED TO KNOW

• Jessica Potter, who is undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, missed an Ariana Grande concert due to a medical emergency

• Her husband surprised her with an Ariana-inspired performance, which went viral and caught the attention of Grande’s team
• Potter attended two Ariana Grande concerts in Boston as a VIP guest, calling the experience a dream come true

Jessica Potter had been eagerly anticipating her Ariana Grande concert for months, especially while going through such a difficult season of life.

Potter, 33, was diagnosed with stage 2B Hodgkin lymphoma in early 2026 after initially mistaking her symptoms for bronchitis. In the months since, Potter tells PEOPLE she has been on a schedule of eight rounds of chemotherapy — known as ABVD: Adriamycin (doxorubicin), Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine.

While she was originally supposed to attend Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour over the Fourth of July weekend, she had a bad reaction to the chemo and ended up spending the whole weekend in the emergency room.

So, her husband, Darryl, decided to bring the concert to her. Darryl bought a clip-on ponytail that resembled Grande’s famous hairstyle and also purchased a Wicked-themed pink microphone. He then performed his best renditions of Grande’s hits for Potter in an effort to lift her spirits.

“We were sitting on the couch. Darryl disappeared, then tried to cheer me up and came down with this long ponytail he ordered from Amazon and the Glinda microphone. He did his performance even though he hardly knew the words,” Potter shares.

Amused by her husband’s antics, she decided to post it on TikTok. The video went viral, amassing 9 million views.

@jess__potter

he bought the glinda microphone and ponytail specifically for this btw #fyp #arianagrande #rembeauty @arianagrande @r.e.m. beauty

♬ original sound – jess potter ♡

Before she knew it, brands began commenting, with Expedia giving her and her husband travel credit and Hilton Hotels offering to cover the cost of a hotel if she could make it to the Boston concert. 

Then, Grande’s makeup brand, r.e.m. beauty, sent Potter a DM, inviting the couple to the VIP suite at Grande’s next concert in Boston, “if we were able to make it.”

“I was doing much better, so we went to Boston, and we went to the first show,” Potter shares. “I thought that was more than enough. It was a dream come true being in the suite and seeing her.”

The next day, the couple was sitting at dinner when she received an email from Grande’s management team.

“I didn’t know if it was real or not,” she admits.

“It said, ‘I know r.e.m. hosted you last night, but we were wondering if you were still in town. We have tickets for you,’” she recalls. “I was like, ‘There’s no way this is real.’ And it was.”

“We asked the waiter for the check, and we ran all the way to the parking garage,” Potter says. “I’m fatigued these days, so that was rough, but I ran with every ounce I had in me, and we made it right in time for the first songs, and they gave us front row seats.”

Potter says the situation was “like a movie, honestly.” 

“It was the craziest weekend of my life. It was honestly a dream come true. I couldn’t believe that I got to see her, not once, but twice,” she shares.

Darryl also got to join her for the concerts and “he had tears in his eyes both times” seeing how happy it made her. Meanwhile, Potter notes that she “was crying nonstop” during both shows.

“She’s my favorite person in the world, so he was over the moon that we were there, even. But then the second night, I don’t even know how that was real life, being that close to her. It was the best time,” Potter says. “I didn’t even want to go home. I lost my voice. Seeing her in person is surreal. It was, it was crazy.”

Even a few days after the concerts, Potter still felt like she was “on a cloud” while going through her photos and videos as the reality of being so close to her idol set in.

“I love her so much,” Potter emphasizes, noting that they even played “pov” at their wedding.

“She has helped me through things that were even hard times in the past, before cancer, and then all the good and the bad,” she shares. “She’s been involved in everything, even through cancer; she’s been our go-to for any time in my life. The fact that this happened during the cancer journey is insane to me. I can’t comprehend it.”

Potter is almost done with her chemo, with her last treatment scheduled for Aug. 7, 2026. Then, in September, she will go for her last scan to see if the treatment worked.

“I can’t wait to not see chemo on my calendar. I want to be a normal person. But it’s okay. We’re almost there,” she says.

While her journey isn’t over, Potter will hold on to the memories of that weekend as she nears the finish line of her treatment.  

“I sent the longest email to her management team and then to r.e.m. I am so grateful,” Potter shares. “I’ve never had an opportunity like that, and I truly can’t even put into words how much it means to someone like me that I’m a typical fan, but when you’re going through a hard time in your life, and they did something like this, it really does mean everything to me.”

“I was fine with the first concert, but the second, all of it, combined in one weekend, was way too much for my brain even to comprehend. It’s too much for one person even to understand,” Potter says. 

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