Ariana Grande is setting the record straight after more than a year of “disreputable” rumors about her romance with “Wicked” costar Ethan Slater, which began just as their respective marriages were ending.
“It definitely doesn’t get any easier, seeing some of the negativity that was birthed by disreputable tabloids,” she said in an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, published in their November 2024 issue.
The 31-year-old “thank u, next” singer didn’t mince her words when she slammed “evil tabloids” for their negative coverage of her new love interest, despite numerous attempts to correct and rectify the story.
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“I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of this movie. A lot of people that were working on it did,” she said, adding “it was a field day for the tabloids to sort of create something that paid their bills.”
The “something” she’s referring to is the speculation that she was the catalyst for Slater’s divorce. Many fans grew suspicious of the relationship because of how soon it happened after their respective splits.
Grande and Slater’s relationship was confirmed by E! News in July 2023. This was around the same time Grande split from her then-husband, Dalton Gomez, and Slater split from his then-wife, Lilly Jay.
It didn’t take long for speculation to grow on social media, but Grande is telling fans not to buy into it.
“The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” Ariana said in her Vanity Fair interview. “That was definitely a tough ride.”
Grande defends her boyfriend’s character
In the interview, published on Sept. 30, Grande goes on to defend her boyfriend and publicly denounce some of the horrible things tabloids have been saying about him for the past year and a half.
“There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him,” she said of Slater, best known for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the family-friendly musical.
“No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about,” she continued, adding that “there is no one on this earth with a better heart.”
Grande and Gomez were rumored to have split in January 2023, one month after she began filming Wicked with Slater. TMZ was the first to report the breakup in July, nearly six months later.
PEOPLE was the first to confirm Grande and Slater’s relationship a few days later.
Despite the rumors, several sources confirmed with PEOPLE and Us Weekly that the two were having “a lot of fun together and are enjoying each other’s company,” at the time. They’ve been together ever since.
Grande will never let tabloids ruin her life
Grande’s relationship to Slater was new at the time, but the negative press and speculation about the relationship wasn’t. Unfortunately, it’s something the “7 Rings” singer has dealt with her entire life.
According to her, the tabloids have been “trying to destroy” her life since she was teenager.
“It’s taken me a lot of hard work to be able to last this long and to heal certain parts of my relationship to fame and to what I do because of these tabloids that have been trying to destroy me since I was 19 years old,” she told Vanity Fair.
But at 31 years old, she’s not letting the tabloids define who she is anymore.
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“But you know what? I’m 31 years old and I’m not a perfect person, but I am definitely deeply good, and I’m proud of who I’m becoming,” she said, adding that she won’t let them ruin her perception “of what is real and good.”