Mr Viral
For most of the Wicked press tour, Ariana Grande and boyfriend Ethan Slater have seemed less in love than Ariana Grande and costar Cynthia Erivo, but we can confirm that Grande and Slater have now made at least one joint appearance as a couple.
Since news of their relationship went public, Grande and Slater have managed to keep things relatively under wraps. Which is especially impressive considering the fact that they’re both promoting the same movie. Slater did not, for example, join Grande at the Golden Globes, for which Wicked was nominated in several categories.
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However, that all seemed to change on January 7, when they appeared together at The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. And when I say “appeared together” I mean like, “together together.” The couple was photographed posing for pictures cheek to cheek, holding hands, and hamming it up at their shared table. I’m not sure this qualifies as a hard launch, since they’ve been together long enough for Slater’s ex-wife to publish an entire essay about the breakup in The Cut, but it’s certainly something.
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Grande wore a backless, baby pink Loewe gown with a matching shawl, if you care about that sort of thing, with her signature ponytail in its current Audrey Hepburn-inspired iteration. Slater, meanwhile, wore a classic black tux sans tie.
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Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater met on the set of Wicked, and began dating sometime in the summer of 2023, according to the official reports, with both having recently separated from their respective spouses. The pair kept their new romance as much on the down-low as they could, considering the circumstances, but have slowly become more public over the past year and a half. They began making sporadic appearances on one another’s Instagram pages and in paparazzi pics and in the fall of 2024, both addressed the relationship and the public’s negative reaction in separate interviews (Slater with GQ and Grande with Vanity Fair). They finally appeared as a couple on the red carpet at the Wicked premiere in Los Angeles in November.
“He’s always that adorable and he’s so amazing in this film. He’s such an amazing person,” Grande told Entertainment Tonight. “I’m so happy people are getting to know him. My heart is very happy.”
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