When Ariana Grande’s romance with “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater went public last July — while both were still married to other people — their questionable relationship timeline eclipsed the hotly anticipated movie.
Grande, 31, separated from then-husband, Los Angeles real estate developer Dalton Gomez, 29, in July, 2023 after two years of marriage. Slater, 32, divorced his former high school sweetheart, Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a 2-year-old son, the same month.
Grande’s divorce was finalized in March, Slater’s was settled in September.
“I thought he [Slater] was very happy with Lily. It was a total surprise to me,” a source close to Slater told The Post.
“I’m sure there were some hearts broken in the process.”
Jay, whose son was just 11-months-old at the time, slammed Slater and Grande last July, telling Page Six her family was seen as “collateral damage” and that Grande was “not a girl’s girl.”
An insider told Page Six last July how Jay was “completely blindsided” by her husband’s relationship with Grande.
“They were definitely cheating …Ethan’s wife found texts between them flirting. Ariana even met the baby a couple of times while they were both married,” a person familiar with the situation told The Post.
Reps for Grande, Slater and Jay declined to comment on the record to The Post’s requests for comment.
But as the duo gear up for the biggest film role of their careers with “Wicked” — which debuts Nov. 22, with Grande as Glinda the good witch opposite Olivia Erivo as green-skinned Elphaba — the couple’s romance is taking center stage again.
Grande, in January, seemingly fired back at haters in the lyrics of a song, referring to her sex life in “Yes, And?”
“Your business is yours, and mine is mine, the pop star sings on the track. “Why do you care so much whose — I ride?”
Some fans at the time bashed the singer as a “homewrecker” online.
Grande was cast in her ‘dream role’ as Glinda in 2021. A year later, in 2022, Slater was cast in the movie as Boq, the love interest of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose, who becomes the Tin Man.
Slater, at the time, had married Jay in 2018 and the duo had recently given birth to their son.
Grande and Slater met in December, 2022 on the set of the film.
But the source close to Slater says his demanding schedule and the distance between him and his wife — as he was then filming in a village in Buckinghamshire, England, likely heightened tension between them.
“There could have been some friction – ‘we had a baby, and you’re leaving for work?’ Maybe [Jay] wasn’t so thrilled about that. I can understand how something like that can start untethering a relationship,” the source said.
“That was a sacrifice [of taking on the ‘Wicked’ role]. Not seeing his new baby for a while. Did that limit Lily? The circumstances of it all are already tricky. We’ve all had our moments – things could have been done better,” the source said.
In June 2023 Grande was seen with her arm around Slater in London at the private members’ club Soho Farmhouse celebrating her 30th birthday in a photo obtained by the Daily Mail.
By July 2023 Grande and Slater’s romance became public, days after Grande’s split from Gomez.
In September, the former Nickelodeon star defended her relationship with Slater in a cover story with Vanity Fair, addressing rumors she cheated on her Gomez with the “Spongebob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical” actor.
“The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” Grande said.
But the past drama hasn’t stopped Grande and Slater from flying high on their PDA-packed fairy tale press tour. On Thursday at the New York City premiere of “Wicked” at the Museum of Modern Art, Slater was photographed embracing Grande on the carpet.
Grande gushed over her co-star beau at the Los Angeles premiere last Saturday.
“He’s always that adorable and he’s so amazing in this film. He’s such an amazing person. I’m so happy people are getting to know him. My heart is very happy,” she told Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet after she was photographed helping Slater fix his bow tie on the carpet.
Grande has long been known for her serial monogamous relationships, and dedicated her 2019 mega hit “Thank U, Next” to the wisdom learned from failed relationships.
In it she called late rapper Mac Miller – whom she dated from 2016 to May, 2018, three months before he died of an accidental overdose at age 26 – an “angel.”
She also expresses gratitude to comedian Pete Davidson, 32, whom she got engaged to in June, 2018, after just weeks of dating. Sources who know Grande say she is not the type of person to date multiple men at once.
“She loves love. She wants a family one day,” Malik Hammond, 30, a Brooklyn-based actor and musician who starred with Grande in “13: The Musical,” her first Broadway show in 2008.
“She’s definitely an advocate for monogamy. She’s a family girl.”
Hammond told The Post Grande was gutted by the death of Miller and believes the duo would still have been together today.
“If Mac was still alive I don’t think they would have broken up,” Hammond said.
“The way Mac respected her and honored her heart. They were very much locked in. That was very hard for her. She shoots from the heart. I don’t think anyone gets over grief when you love someone and you feel like you have a future together.”
Grande spoke about the loss in an interview with Vogue in 2019, calling grief “pretty all-consuming,” and that making the album “Thank U, Next” following Miller’s death “quite literally saved my life.”
Hammond says Davidson, who lost his father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Grande found comfort in their mutual grief.
“Pete just made her laugh,” Hammond said.
Slater, for his part, appears to be smitten with the pop star. In October after Grande hosted “Saturday Night Live,” a source told Page Six he and “The Boy Is Mine” songstress looked “in love” during the NBC show’s afterparty at L’Avenue at Saks.
“Ariana and Ethan were side-by-side throughout the evening, looking happy and in love,” the spy said.
Shortly after, on November, 3 at the Sydney, Australia premiere, Slater was photographed helping Grande with her gown as she walked, gushing she’s “always” in good hands when asked how she felt about Slater’s chivalrous gesture.
“They [Ariana and Ethan] could have been in a bubble and there was a gravity pull. No one ever goes into a show looking for romance. You’re just in these situations and you’re going through this exciting stressful process together. It just kind of happens,” the source close to Slater told The Post.
“When people were coming down on her [Ariana] and Ethan, yeah you’re married with a baby, that’s not a great thing, but no one can speak to that. You work so hard to develop this career – you put all your time and sacrifices to have people rip it away so quickly. As long as they’re happy – that’s the main thing. It’s their lives.”
“I could see it for them [long term]. I don’t think this is a PR move that ‘this will help my career if I date the other one.’ There’s something there.”
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