Everything You Need To Know About Ariana Grande & Ethan Slater Dating

The official ‘Thank, U Next’ 2.0 era.

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In recent months, Ariana Grande had been keeping a very low profile while filming the two upcoming Wicked movies directed by Jon M. Chu.

Even though Grande originally broke into the mainstream for her acting role on the Nickelodeon series Sam & Cat, she mostly just focused on her music career in the years that followed – making very occasional appearances in projects like Scream Queens, Hairspray Live!, and Kidding.

As production started for the Wicked movies, Universal Pictures announced that Grande had been cast in the role of Galinda. She will star in the films alongside Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba), Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero), and Ethan Slater (Boq). While fans were definitely excited to see the movies, little did anyone know that a behind-the-scenes romance had been developing between Grande and Slater the whole time.

Now, a swarm of updates are being reported about this new relationship between the Wicked costars.

Scroll through for a timeline of all the recent updates regarding Ariana Grande’s dating life.

Ariana announces she is divorcing Dalton Gomez.

Instagram (@arianagrande)

Grande had high-profile relationships with celebrities like the late Mac Miller, Big Sean, and Pete Davidson over the years. However, it was upon meeting a non-famous real estate agent, Dalton Gomez, that Grande appeared to have found the love of her life. After meeting in January 2020, Grande and Gomez got engaged in December 2020 and tied the knot in May 2021.

In July 2023, seemingly out of nowhere, new reports came out claiming that Grande and Gomez were getting a divorce. Sources alleged that the couple had already been having issues for some time, and Grande being away for so long to film the Wicked movies ended up straining their relationship even further.

Ariana is now dating ‘Wicked’ costar Ethan Slater.

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Just a few days after Grande and Gomez’s divorce was reported, new stories came out alleging that the singer was now dating her Wicked costar Ethan Slater. In fact, TMZ spoke to “sources with direct knowledge” who claimed that Grande and Slater “started dating several months ago during production of the flick.”

The irony in this new romance is that Boq (Slater’s character) actually has a massive crush on Galinda (Grande’s character) in Wicked. However, Boq doesn’t stand a chance with Galinda as she pursues a relationship with Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey’s character) instead.

Ethan’s wife says she was ‘blindsided’ by Ariana dating news.

Instagram (@ethanslater)

Much like Grande, Slater was married to someone else when they started filming Wicked. Slater started dating Lilly Jay, his high-school sweetheart, in 2012. They got married in 2018 and had a child in 2022.

According to Page Six, Jay was “completely blindsided” by the news of Slater’s new relationship with Grande. “It’s horrible,” a source told the publication. “They were high school sweethearts. They have a baby! She’s a wreck.” In May 2023 – two months prior to the news that Grande and Slater were dating – the actor shared an Instagram post praising Jay as “the most wonderful mom/person in the world.”

Another report published by Us Weekly claims that “Ethan sat Lilly down a few days before the news broke about him and Ariana and said that he wanted a divorce.” Another insider alleged that “Ariana and Ethan weren’t careful. They’d hold hands on set in between takes. They were sloppy and not hiding it.”

‘SpongeBob’ voice actor’s wife clarifies Ariana is not dating her husband.

Instagram (@the_real_jill_talley)

Before getting cast in the Wicked movies, Slater was best known for playing the title character in The SpongeBob Musical on Broadway. When his new relationship with Grande came to light, fans on social media reacted with jokes like “Grande is now dating SpongeBob.”

Well, some people saw those jokes and actually understood that Grande was dating 61-year-old Tom Kenny, the voice actor from the original Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants. This prompted Kenny’s wife, Jill Talley, to go on Instagram and clarify this situation.

“Hi everyone, I’m married to Tom Kenny (who voices SpongeBob on the TV show),” Talley wrote. “He is not dating Ariana Grande. I don’t know if Ethan Slater (who played SpongeBob in the musical) is or isn’t dating Ariana Grande. However, they’re both adorable and I totally ship it. Just wanted to set the record straight.”

She concluded, “As for me and Tom Kenny – we are celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary today.”

Ethan’s ‘The SpongeBob Musical’ costar reacts to him dating Ariana.

Instagram (@lilcoopz)

Actress Lilli Cooper, who played Sandy Cheeks in The SpongeBob Musical alongside Slater, also had a reaction to the news that he was now dating Grande. “I was surprised,” she told Page Six. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while. It’s an interesting coupling, for sure. Unexpected.”

Ethan’s friends are worried Ariana will ‘break his heart.’

Instagram (@ethanslater)

A person who claims to be friends with Slater told Us Weekly that his group of close friends is concerned about his new relationship with Grande. According to this source, Slater’s friends are “worried she’ll break his heart.”