People: Ariana Grande & Ethan Slater didnt start until they were both separated

We’ve heard very little about Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater in the past month. Throughout July, the story broke after Ariana’s appearance at Wimbledon. At first, the information was being released by her team, then everything blew up when Ethan’s wife Lilly Jay wouldn’t go along with Ariana’s PR. The facts wouldn’t go along with Ariana’s PR either – it’s clear that Ariana and Ethan began their affair while working in London on Wicked, and Ethan only told Lilly about the affair and filed for divorce within days of the story breaking. Ariana looked exceptionally messy once again, which is why she tried to convince Scooter Braun to cut off his vacation to manage her (utterly self-made) crisis. In early August, Team Grande leaked to TMZ that Ariana was giving Ethan some space to work his sh-t out. Well, here’s an update.

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are still going strong and doing their best to navigate their relationship in the public eye, multiple sources tell PEOPLE.

“While this entire situation has been blown out of proportion, it’s much different than what has been portrayed in public,” says a friend of the couple, who met on set of the upcoming Wicked film adaptation.

“They are just trying to navigate their new relationship in private,” the source adds.

“People have tried to question the timeline,” a close family friend notes of the relationship between the pop star, 30, and the Tony nominee, 31, who were friends and costars before they began dating. Their romantic relationship began after Grande’s separation from her husband Dalton Gomez and Slater’s separation from his wife Lilly Jay. “The truth is, Ariana and Ethan didn’t begin seeing each other until after both parties were separated, respectfully,” continues the close family friend.

An additional source close to the situation tells PEOPLE of Grande and Slater, “They are doing their best to balance the fact that they are in the public eye with the desire to be respectful to all parties involved.”

Slater’s focus continues to be his infant son, whom he and Jay welcomed in August 2022, another friend tells PEOPLE: “Ethan’s priority will always be to co-parent his son.”

[From People]

As I’ve said before, I halfway believe that Ariana separated from Dalton before (or around the same time as) she started up with Ethan. What I don’t believe is that Ethan and Lilly Jay were separated or that Lilly even knew about Ethan’s affair until Ariana’s people started the boyfriend rollout. And let’s be clear, that’s exactly what it was and Ariana expected to bulldoze Lilly. Then Lilly started talking to Page Six, Us Weekly, TMZ, anyone who called her, basically. So I’m excited to see if Lilly starts talking again. She should! These kinds of pieces piss me off. “People have tried to question the timeline…The truth is, Ariana and Ethan didn’t begin seeing each other until after both parties were separated, respectfully.” Oh, okay, unnamed source who sounds like Ariana’s new manager. I’ll totally believe that before I believe Lilly’s on-the-record comments.

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Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Instagram.

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