Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater weren’t good at keeping their connection a secret — at least not on the set of Wicked.
By now you know news broke this month that she and her husband, Dalton Gomez, have been separated since January and are “heading towards divorce” after two years of marriage. And just days later, it came out that the 30-year-old singer had been dating her co-star!
The timeline of the relationship, however, has been very murky. You see, the former SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical star is still married to his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay. Last August, four months before he began working on Wicked with Ariana, they welcomed their son Ezra. And Ethan gushed about how “caring and wonderful” Lilly was on Instagram back in May – a post, mind you, that was liked by Ariana. Things seemed still very much solid between the estranged couple!
So fans’ eyebrows were quickly raised by the timeline of his romance with Ariana. A few sources have come out saying Ariana and Ethan didn’t become romantically involved until they were separated from their respective spouses. But plenty of evidence doesn’t match up there — including this latest tidbit.
Related: Ethan’s Former Spongebob Musical Co-Star Reacts To Ariana Grande Romance!
An insider for Us Weekly claimed the Broadway star was not broken up with Lilly when his romance with Ariana started. In fact, he only owned up to the affair and told her “he wanted a divorce” days before the news broke — in other words, right after Ari’s split with Dalton went public. That would mean he only came clean when he knew he would be found out! So harsh!!
Since then, other sources have come forward swearing that Ethan and Lilly were separated for two months before anything happened between him and Ariana. But we’re still pretty sus…
Now, more details about the timeline of Ariana and Ethan’s romance have come out, and it’s just not looking good for the new couple. According to an insider spilling to People, the pair had formed a connection very “early on” into filming Wicked at the end of last year – something that was “obvious” to everyone on set. A source explained:
“It was obvious on the set from early on … they were very sweet to each other and often seen laughing together.”
Remember, the movie started filming in December! The man still had a newborn baby!
The cast and crew of the film apparently didn’t think too much of their close bond! They believed at the time there was nothing more than friendship between the actors. What a mistake that turned out to be. The insider said:
“Everyone just thought they were both happily married though and didn’t expect them to end up dating.”
Despite the backlash surrounding their romance, Ariana and Ethan are “full-on dating” now. The source noted that The Voice alum “really likes” him. She may feel that way right now, but things can change!
We’ve seen it time and time again with co-stars who get into a relationship while working together. While it may seem like the real deal during filming, things tend to fizzle out once they move on to the next project (or person). And take it from the lessons of the Scandoval – sometimes a major cheating scandal can become too much for a couple and inevitably result in a split. So it’s possible this man just threw away his family for a fleeting connection with Ariana. Wow.
It’s no wonder Lilly seems very upset right now. Who can blame her when Ethan was going behind her back with Ariana, possibly from the beginning of filming Wicked. Awful. Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via The Late Late Show with James Corden/YouTube, Joseph Marzullo/WENN]
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