Has Ariana Grande already gone from “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” to “Thank You, Next” when it comes to Ethan Slater? Not quite.
According to a new TMZ report published on July 29, the 30-year-old singer is giving her Wicked co-star and alleged boyfriend“space” to “work things out” with his soon-to-be ex-wife, Lilly Jay…but not in the way it sounds.
While the report suggests that Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater “haven’t been in the same city for several weeks,” TMZ maintains that the controversial couple is “100% still dating.” Sources claim she is heading back to Los Angeles while Slater is in New York City finalizing the details of his divorce and custody agreement with Jay.
Let’s just say a lot has gone down in the past week. On July 20—just a few days after news broke that Grande had separated from husband Dalton Gomez after two years of marriage—the musical theater community was rocked by reports that the pop star had “recently” started dating Slater, whom she met on the set of Wicked. Best known for starring in The Spongebob Musical, Slater has been married to his high school sweetheart since 2018 and welcomed his first child with Jay sometime in 2022.
Although multiple sources have claimed that Grande and Slater didn’t start dating until both parties were separated from their spouses, Slater didn’t officially file for divorce until July 26. A few days later, Jay allegedly broke her silence with a statement to Page Six. “[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girl’s girl,” Jay reportedly said. “My family is just collateral damage.”
Since everything went down, Slater has gone private on social media and Grande has limited the comments section of her posts. “We’re told she and Ethan want to see each other, but that’s not in the cards for the immediate future,” TMZ reports.
