Ariana Grande Says There’s a ‘Hellish Feeling’ When People ‘Misunderstand the People You Love’
Ariana Grande has no tears left to cry about negative rumors surrounding her relationship with Ethan Slater.
“I feel like we don’t need to go into any specifics, but, of course, there’s like an insatiable frustration, inexplicable, hellish feeling with watching people, misunderstand the people you love and you and anything,” Grande, 30, shared, on the Monday, February 26, episode of the “The Zach Sang Show” on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch.
Grande’s comment was seemingly in reference to the turmoil she faced in her personal life last year. The same month that Grande split from her ex-husband, Dalton Gomez, news broke that she had begun dating her Wicked costar Slater, 31. Days later, Slater filed for divorce from wife Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a son. In August 2023, sources told Us Weekly that there was no overlap between the relationships.
Grande filed for divorce from Gomez, 28, in September 2023, and their split was finalized one month later. A source exclusively told Us earlier this month that Slater and Jay are “still in the mediation phase” of their divorce, adding, “[Things] haven’t been finalized yet.”
Earlier this year, Grande seemingly called out critics of her new romance in “Yes, And?,” the first single from her upcoming album, Eternal Sunshine. In the track, she sings, “Your business is yours and mine is mine / Why do you care so much whose d–k I ride?”
On Monday, Grande jokingly called releasing her new album in the midst of her and Slater’s relationship drama “the absolute worst idea.” She added: “I’m so nervous, because pieces of it touch on things that are real and then pieces of it are also just, like, part of the concept. So, what is that separation?”
Grande continued: “It’s so scary to leave it up to these selective memory people to decipher. It’s scary, but I digress. Too late. The vinyls have been printed.”
Another source exclusively told Us in October 2023 that Grande and Slater had moved in with each other. “Ethan informed his friends and soon-to-be ex-wife that he’s living with Ariana full-time in New York,” the insider shared.
The following month, Grande was spotted supporting her boyfriend at the opening night of his Broadway show Spamalot. She returned to the show several times, even taking her dad, Ed Butera, to see the production on Christmas Eve.
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“Things between Ariana and Ethan have grown more serious in the past few months, and they’re pretty much inseparable,” an insider shared exclusively with Us in January. “Ariana cares deeply for Ethan and absolutely sees a future with him. She’s looking forward to a fresh start in the new year and can’t wait to see how things continue to grow for them.”
Grande and Slater will share the big screen together later this year with the premiere of Wicked: Part One. Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Grande will star as Glinda the Good Witch while Slater will portray Boq, a college classmate who has an unrequited crush on Glinda.
