{"id":1637,"date":"2026-06-09T15:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1637"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:40:14","slug":"ariana-grande-secretly-ended-once-scandalous-romance-with-ethan-slater-months-ago-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1637","title":{"rendered":"Ariana Grande secretly ended once-scandalous romance with Ethan Slater months ago: report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Perhaps conveniently, news broke Monday that Ariana Grande had ended her romance with her former \u201cWicked\u201d co-star Ethan Slater, two days after she opened her massive Eternal Sunshine Tour at the Oakland Arena.<\/p>\n

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But as People reported, the relationship actually \u201cquietly\u201d ended \u201cmonths ago,\u201d which suggests that the pop star\u2019s team presumably tried to keep the breakup secret so that it wouldn\u2019t risk overshadowing Saturday night\u2019s launch of her three-month tour and the\u00a0 promotion of her next album, \u201cPetal\u201d<\/p>\n

In any case, the breakup news hasn\u2019t struck too many Grande fans as all that shocking, given that she doesn\u2019t have a record of staying in relationships \u2014 or in her one marriage \u2014 for \u201clonger than three years\u201d and given that her romance with Slater had scandalous beginnings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grande, 32, and Slater, 34,were first romantically linked in July 2023, while they were working together in London on the two-part film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, \u201cWicked.\u201d The relationship news was a \u201cshock\u201d too many because Grande was still officially married to luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez. But even more controversial, Slater had seemed to be happily married to therapist Lilly Jay \u2014 and the father of an 11-month-old baby boy.<\/p>\n

At the time, reps for Grande and Slater tried to spin the narrative by insisting that Grande had separated from Gomez months earlier, while telling People and Page Six that Grande and Slater only \u201crecently began dating\u201d \u2014 after he had separated from his wife.<\/p>\n

Jay wasn\u2019t so sanguine about this development, as gossip and entertainment sites reported. The day after Slater filed for divorce, Jay spoke to Page Six about the globally famous, multi-hyphenate celebrity and suggested that her husband had blindsided her with their romance. She famously told Page Six Grande is \u201cnot a girl\u2019s girl\u201d and said, \u201cMy family is just collateral damage.\u201d Other reports said that Jay was \u201cdevastated that her family\u2019s been torn apart\u201d and feels that the actor has \u201cabandoned his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

But shortly thereafter, it appeared that people from Slater\u2019s team were trying to push the news that Jay regretted making those comments about Grande, while insisting that Slater \u201cdesperately\u201d wanted to be involved in co-parenting their son.<\/p>\n

In subsequent months, Grande and Slater were spotted out together, including on a date at Disneyland in September 2023, as People reported. Meanwhile, Slater and Jay finalized their divorce in September 2024, after which Jay penned a viral essay for The Cut, in which she addressed the controversy without attacking her ex-husband or Grande directly. In the essay, titled, \u201cHow Does My Divorce Make You Feel?\u201d Jay reflected on the challenges of navigating a highly public divorce, while continuing her career, raising her son as a single mother and grieving the loss of the quiet life she once enjoyed, as The Tab reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Grande and Slater had made their relationship \u201cInstagram official\u201d in November 2024 when Grande posted a photo with him for the first time in a carousel of pictures taken while they and other castmates attended the Australian premiere of the first installment of \u201cWicked,\u201d People reported.\u00a0 The first part of \u201cWicked\u201d was a commercial and critical hit and earned Grande an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. Over the next year, Grande and Slater continued to make promotional appearances for the release of \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d the second part of the \u201cWicked\u201d film adaptation.<\/p>\n

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Prior to Grande\u2019s relationship with Slater, she was married to Gomez from 2021 to 2023. Before that, she had a high-profile, whirlwind romance with former \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d star Pete Davidson in 2018, during which they were briefly engaged. In May of 2018, she also ended a two-year relationship with rapper Mac Miller, who died the following September of an accidental drug overdose. She and Miller had previously collaborated on her 2013 single \u201cThe Way\u201d and his 2016 single \u201cMy Favorite Part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grande also once dated rapper Big Sean, backup dancer Ricky Alvarez, Australian YouTuber Jai Brooks and boy band member, Than Sykes, according to People.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the end of her relationship with Slater, a source told People that the split is \u201camicable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,\u201d the source told People \u201cThey are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The insider added that Grande is \u201cdoing great,\u201d and has been focused on her Eternal Sunshine Tour and the upcoming release of her new album.<\/p>\n

On Reddit and other online forums, fans speculated that Grande and Slater had probably gone their separate ways more than a year ago, but publicly stayed together \u201cfor P.R.\u201d reasons. In November, Slater said in an interview that Grande\u2019s performance in the \u201cWicked\u201d sequel was \u201cout of this world,\u201d People reported. More recently, in March, Grande offered a message of support on Instagram Stories for the final performance of Slater\u2019s off-Broadway play \u201cMarcel on the Train,\u201d which he co-wrote and starred in.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s now debate on Reddit about whether any of her songs on her \u201cEternal Sunshine\u201d or \u201cPetal\u201d are about their relationship, but many also have expressed the idea that the relationship didn\u2019t start in the most favorable of circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that mess and drama and the breakup of a family with a newborn for a relationship that has probably been over long before this announcement,\u201d one person said on r\/popculturechat sub-Reddit, referring to the news of their breakup. Over on People magazine, another person said, \u201cI need every story about this breakup to mention how he left his wife, who he\u2019d been with for years, and new baby for this relationship. And I don\u2019t think she\u2019s had any relationship last over 3 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more US Navy uses autonomous boats created by California startup to track Chinese ghost fleets<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News that Grande and Slater had split reignited discussion about how their relationship started in 2023 when he was still married to his wife, Lilly Jay, and the father of a baby son. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nAriana Grande secretly ended once-scandalous romance with Ethan Slater months ago: report - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1637\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ariana Grande secretly ended once-scandalous romance with Ethan Slater months ago: report - 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