Ethan Slater is finally opening up about his romance with Ariana Grande — and just like she did, he’s calling out some assumptions that were made about their relationship!
As you’ll recall, Ari and Ethan met on the set of Wicked. Days after news of her split from husband Dalton Gomez dropped last summer, reports hit the web that she was dating her co-star — even though he was married! Ethan quickly filed for divorce from wife Lilly Jay, who was also the mother of their newborn child. Obviously there were immediately cheating rumors. At the very least, it seemed the co-stars had left their respective partners to dive headfirst into this whirlwind romance.
Despite the optics, Ariana, who filed for her divorce last September, has since claimed the public just misunderstood everything. Uh huh…
Related: How Tom Brady REALLY Feels About Gisele Bündchen’s Pregnancy Announcement!
Now, Ethan is running with that same narrative! In a new GQ cover story out on Wednesday, the actor opened up about what it was like falling in love while making the highly-anticipated movie. But first, he had to address the negative side of that, sharing:
“Obviously, it was a really super big year, and I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public. 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. So just to address that part of it, that feels really hard.”
Getting things “wrong”?? Like what? Him getting together with another woman while he was still married? With a newborn baby at home? Oh, wait, no, that’s a fact! LOLz! If Ariana and Ethan really want all the speculation about their relationship to stop, they should just get more candid about the timeline of everything because all this gaslighting is getting old. Just saying!
Ethan… did not get more transparent about things. He quickly brushed past the drama by gushing about what it was like falling for the 7 Rings singer:
“But, of course, it was an amazing year and a really beautiful thing, and I’m just really excited. I’m just really, really proud of Ari and the work she’s done on this. 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.”
As for any ongoing speculation about the romance, he’s doing his best to block it out. The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical lead said elsewhere:
“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.”
The real people like Lilly? Who definitely implied Ari stole her man when she said she’s “not a girl’s girl”?
Last month, Ariana also defended her boyfriend in a chat with Vanity Fair, noting that “the most disappointing part” of the start of the romance “was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” she shared:
“There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him. No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about. […] 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.”
Despite the ongoing controversy, the couple is getting more comfortable sharing their love in public. On Tuesday, Ari’s brother Frankie Grande posted a ton of photos to Instagram of his fall activities, including a selfie with the movie stars. Ch-ch-check it out in the third slide (below):
Cute!
At least her family approves!
But what do you think of Ariana and Ethan constantly slamming their fans for having questions about the early days of their romance? Do you think they have a right to be annoyed? Or would it be better to just be honest? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via Michelle Yeoh/Frankie Grande/Instagram]
