More than a year after romance rumors surrounding her and Ethan Slater first began to spread, Ariana Grande has opened up about their budding relationship for the very first time. During a Sept. 30 interview with Vanity Fair, the singer got candid about her Wicked co-star and even spoke on the intense media scrutiny their relationship faced in the beginning.
In case you forgot, Grande and Slater, a Tony nominee who’s best known for playing the title character in SpongeBob SquarePants the Broadway Musical, were first reported to be dating in July 2023, a few months after the “Yes, And?” singer separated from her husband, Dalton Gomez, in January 2023. Not long after romance rumors surfaced, Slater filed for divorce from his wife, Lilly Jay, who he welcomed a child with in 2022.
On July 27, 2023, Jay spoke out about her split from Slater, while putting Grande on blast. “[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl,” Jay told Page Six. “My family is just collateral damage.” She continued, “The story is her and Dalton.” Her Campus reached out to Grande and Slater’s teams for comment, but didn’t hear back by the time of publication. Slater and Jay were officially divorced in September 2023.
Now, Grande is speaking on all of this drama for the first time ever, sharing how the media scrutiny greatly affected the beginning stages of her and Slater’s relationship.
“It definitely doesn’t get any easier, seeing some of the negativity that was birthed by disreputable tabloids,” Grande told Vanity Fair. “Of course, I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of [Wicked]. A lot of people that were working on it did. We were away for two years. So, of course, I understand why it was a field day for the tabloids to sort of create something that paid their bills.”
While Grande’s no stranger to tabloids reporting on her relationships, she admitted she was ultimately hurt over the media’s depiction of Slater.
“The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” she said. “That was definitely a tough ride.” She added, “There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him.”
While she didn’t go into detail on their romance, Grande went on to speak highly of Slater. “No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about,” she said. “There is no one on this earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bullsh*t tabloid can rewrite in real life.”
The singer then called out the tabloids for their constant coverage of her personal life. “Honestly, it’s taken me a lot of hard work to be able to last this long and to heal certain parts of my relationship to fame and to what I do because of these tabloids that have been trying to destroy me since I was 19 years old,” she said. “But you know what? I’m 31 years old and I’m not a perfect person, but I am definitely deeply good, and I’m proud of who I’m becoming. I will never let disreputable evil tabloids ruin my life or my perception of what is real and good.”