Ethan Slater Offers Rare Remarks on Ariana Grande Relationship

Ethan Slater is opening up about his relationship with Ariana Grande. In a new profile for GQ, the 32-year-old Tony Award-nominated actor, who stars opposite Grande in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, offered rare remarks about his romance with the hitmaker – and the backlash it has received.

“I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public,” Slater told the outlet in a profile published Wednesday, Oct. 30. The Broadway star continued, “There were a lot of big changes in private lives that were really happening, so it’s really hard to see people who don’t know anything about what’s happening commenting on it and speculating, and then getting things wrong about the people you love.”

Slater and Grande, 31, have been subject to plenty of speculation about their relationship from the start, denying rumors that their romance sparked during their respective marriages to Lilly Jay and Dalton Gomez. Slater filed for divorce from Jay, with whom he shares a 2-year-old son, in July 2023, the same month his relationship with Grande was confirmed. In turn, the Grammy winner filed for divorce from Gomez in September 2023.

Slater added to GQ that despite all the difficulties surrounding the microscope his new relationship has been under, “it was an amazing year and a really beautiful thing, and I’m just really excited.”

He added of how he’s been handling the chatter surrounding his romantic life, “Some of the hard parts that you’re talking about are the personal-life stuff that everybody in the world goes through. And so I am really focused on the real people in my life, who those things affect, and doing right by every real person and not the Twitter people who comment on it.”

As for Wicked, which hits theaters on Nov. 22, Slater gushed, “I’m just really, really proud of Ari and the work she’s done on this.” The actor, who plays Boq opposite Grande’s Glinda, continued, “She’s poured herself into it. I’m really proud that I got to be there for that part of it, and I’m really excited to be there for this next step of it when the world gets to see the amazing thing that she did.”

Grande also opened up recently about her relationship with Slater, telling Vanity Fair in a Sept. 30 interview that she was upset with the public perception of her love. “There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him,” the “7 Rings” artist insisted. “No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about.”

Grande added, “There is no one on this earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bulls-t tabloid can rewrite in real life.”