Ariana Grande has been making headlines recently for allegedly dating her Wicked costar Ethan Slater.
The two's reported relationship came to light within days of the world learning that Grande was separating from her husband of two years, Dalton Gomez, which had many fans asking questions about the exact timeline of these related events.
Grande and Slater's relationship (if it's real, since neither has confirmed it yet!) is especially bothering people because the actor—who is known for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the Broadway musical—has an 11-month-old baby with his wife of nearly five years, Lilly Jay. Slater and Jay were high school sweethearts.
Unfortunately, at this stage, most of the information we have about Grande and Slater has come through word of mouth, and is as yet unverified and to be taken with a very large pinch of salt, or two, or three. Still, here's a bit of what we know so far.
In April, a source told gossip platform DeuxMoi about a chance encounter with Gomez, "Met him and his friends a month ago and he was honestly so nice! He was gushing over his wife. He did say that he was with her for 5 months, but had to come back for work."
DeuxMoi shared this quote after reports have been stating that Gomez and Grande have been separated since January. Still, if the two were separated in March, it's unlikely Gomez would have opened up about it to a perfect stranger, so this proves nothing.
Another source told DeuxMoi this week, Slater and Jay "were absolutely not separated. It has been going on for 6 months behind Lilly's back. Finally, someone on set told her two weeks ago, not sure who. Apparently, Ariana had become friends with Lilly and was hanging out at their house, playing with the baby as this was going on."
Again, let me remind you that we absolutely do not know if any of this is true. What we do know for sure is that Jay broke her silence late last week, telling Page Six, "[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage."
So whatever happened, we know that Jay has been hurt by the whole situation, and that said situation does involve Grande in one way or another.
Meanwhile, a source recently told Us Weekly, "Ethan sat Lilly down a few days before the news broke about him and Ariana and said that he wanted a divorce. Lilly never saw it coming."
Another source told the publication that Slater and Jay "were separated when they [Slater and Grande] started dating, and the relationship is recent."
Who knows anything? Not me!
