If you’re even a casual fan of Ariana Grande, it’s hard not to be up-to-date on her personal life (or at least the parts of it that she writes into songs; all these years later, I still have “Thought I’d end up with Sean, but he wasn’t a match / Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh” playing on a loop in my head). At the moment, though, Grande’s dating agenda is receiving a little more scrutiny than usual, thanks to a recent breakup from husband Dalton Gomez and a new (alleged) romance with her Wicked costar Ethan Slater—he who played SpongeBob SquarePants in the Broadway adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon. Read on for all the details.
How long have Grande and Slater reportedly been together?
News broke in late July that Grande and Slater had begun a relationship about six months after Grande and Gomez allegedly called it quits. (However, the general public didn’t find out about the Grande-Gomez separation until this month.)
Why is their pairing off causing so much drama?
Grande and Slater’s relationship timeline is complicated by the fact that Slater is currently estranged from his wife, Lilly Jay. The two married in 2018 and have a baby son, born just last year; and although it’s been reported that Slater didn’t start dating Grande until after he’d separated from Jay, Page Six reports that Jay was “completely blindsided” by the news of her ex’s new relationship. (Heartburn, anyone?)
Have either Grande or Slater commented on their relationship?
No, but Grande’s ex Dalton Gomez is apparently still in the mix (or would like to be). “Dalton is really hoping to make things work with Ariana,” a source told Us Weekly, adding: “Despite the rocky patches they’ve been through, he isn’t ready to give up on their marriage. He saw himself spending the rest of his life with Ariana and will do anything to get past this.” Hilariously, Jill Talley—the wife of actor Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob on the TV show—also chimed in; she would like you to know that, no, her husband did not leave her for Grande.
Do I have to care about any of this?
No. ❤️
This story was originally published on Vogue.com.
