Key Points

  • Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater made their relationship public in 2023, shortly after both announced divorces
  • Their connection started on the set of the Wicked movie, where they played love interests
  • The relationship drew major public attention because of the timing and the people involved
  • Grande was previously married to Dalton Gomez and has had several high-profile relationships before that

How It All Started on the Wicked Set

You're scrolling through your phone one morning and a celebrity story stops you mid-scroll. You weren't even looking for it. But something about the headline pulls you in, and suddenly you need to know everything. That's exactly what happened when news broke about Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater.

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater met while filming the movie adaptation of Wicked. Grande plays Glinda, and Slater plays Boq. They spent a lot of time together on set in 2022 and into 2023. By the summer of 2023, they were spotted together publicly, and sources close to both confirmed they were dating.

What made this story bigger than a typical celebrity romance was the timing. Both Grande and Slater announced the end of their marriages around the same time the relationship became public. Grande had been married to real estate agent Dalton Gomez since 2021. Slater had been married to Lilly Jay, with whom he has a child. The overlapping timelines caused a lot of conversation online, and not all of it was kind.

Where Things Stand Now

As of 2025, Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are still together. They've been seen at various events, and Grande has spoken about him in interviews in warm terms. She's called the relationship meaningful to her. It's not just tabloid speculation at this point. They've made public appearances together and appear to be a committed couple.

Grande got her start in the spotlight very young, first on the Nickelodeon show Victorious and then with her music career, which took off fast. Because of that, her personal life has always been under the microscope. Her previous relationship with comedian Pete Davidson in 2018 was highly public, short, and ended around the time of a family tragedy for Grande. Before that, she dated rapper Mac Miller for about two years. Miller passed away in September 2018, and Grande has spoken openly about how much that loss affected her.

So when Grande and Slater got together, people paid extra attention. Her relationship history isn't just celebrity gossip. It's a timeline that many fans feel personally connected to, because she's talked about it in her music and interviews for years.

Why People Are Still Talking About It

The Wicked movie came out in November 2024 and was a massive release. That put both Grande and Slater back in the public eye at the same time. Press interviews, red carpet appearances, promotional content, all of it brought renewed attention to their relationship. People searched for updates. Old tabloid articles got reshared. The story had legs again.

Part of what keeps people interested is that Grande doesn't hide the relationship, but she doesn't perform it either. There aren't constant couple selfies or social media declarations. That kind of low-key approach can actually make people more curious, not less. Fans notice what's there and what's not.

Slater, who was best known for Broadway before Wicked, has also handled the attention more quietly. He's not a social media personality or someone chasing the spotlight. That's a different dynamic than some of Grande's past relationships, which played out very publicly in real time.

What Ariana's Dating History Actually Tells Us

Grande's relationship with Slater didn't come out of nowhere. If you trace her dating history, there's a pattern worth noticing. Her most serious relationships have grown out of shared work or creative projects. She dated her collaborators, her costars, people she was already spending serious time with. That's not unusual. It's actually one of the most common ways real relationships start.

Most people don't meet their partners in a dramatic, scripted way. They meet through work, through repeated contact, through a situation where they're already showing up as themselves. Grande and Slater had months on a film set together before anything became romantic, at least publicly. That kind of slow build is something a lot of people can relate to.

If you've ever developed feelings for someone you see regularly, or wondered whether a shared experience might turn into something more, you already understand the basic shape of this story. Celebrity or not, the emotional mechanics are familiar.

So, Who Is Ariana Grande Dating Right Now?

Right now, in 2025, she's with Ethan Slater. The relationship started publicly in 2023, came out of the Wicked set, and has lasted through a lot of public scrutiny. They're still together, and by most accounts, things are going well.

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