Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater have called it quits three years after initially making headlines together. The couple reportedly had a “quiet breakup” several months ago, a source told Entertainment Weekly, adding that the split is “amicable.”
“They gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” the source added. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”
They met on the set of the 2024 movie musical Wicked, in which Grande played Glinda the Good. He played the character Munchkin Boq, who transforms into the Tin Man. Both of them split from their spouses at the time — Dalton Gomez and Lilly Jay, respectively — in July 2023. Their relationship became tabloid fodder, especially after Slater’s ex penned a candid essay for The Cut, writing that she never imagined divorcing so soon after welcoming a child, “especially not in the shadow of my husband’s new relationship with a celebrity.”
Grande pushed back against the narrative. “There is no one on this earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bulls— tabloid can rewrite in real life,” she said of Slater in a 2024 Vanity Fair interview.
The breakup news comes just as Grande is set to embark on her Eternal Sunshine tour promoting her new album, petal. The tour kicked off on Saturday in Oakland, Calif., and will continue through major North American and UK cities through the summer. Petal is scheduled for release on July 31.
Sources close to her shut down speculation that her and Slater’s breakup served as source material or inspiration for petal. “Ariana’s new album was not at all inspired by the breakup, nor is the music about her relationship with Ethan,” a source told TMZ.
So if Grande isn’t pulling from a breakup on petal, what can fans expect from the pop star’s new album? Its lead single, “hate that i made you love me,” started the petal era in a fun, bubbly, sardonic way. She sings about being “sorry” she made her lover obsessed with her by “barely” trying. It appears to call out parasocial fans obsessed with Grande.
Fans will have to wait until either Grande releases another single or until July 31 when the full album is released.