It’s been over a week since the first reports that Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez have separated, and since then, it feels like things have gotten more complicated by the day.
On Jul. 17, TMZ broke the news that a divorce is imminent for Ari and Dalton, who have been married for 2 years.
There weren’t a ton of details in the reports, however numerous insiders said the two have been separated since January, and that Ari’s fame was a factor in the decision to part ways.
They’d apparently been having issues for a while before the split, and things only got more difficult when Ariana moved to London to start filming for the Wicked movies last December.
Three days later on Jul. 20, fans were left in shock by reports that Ari found love on the Wicked set, with multiple outlets confirming that she’s now dating her costar, Ethan Slater.
Alongside Ari, who is starring as Glinda, Ethan will play Boq in Wicked, and is otherwise best known for his portrayal of SpongeBob in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.
The news of their rumored romance has been made a little complicated by the fact that Ethan, like Ari, recently split from his wife, Lilly Jay, with whom he welcomed a son in August last year.
We don’t know for sure when Ethan and Lilly separated, although he apparently marked their 4th wedding anniversary on Instagram with a heartfelt post last November, as well as a Mother’s Day tribute in May.
Several sources have adamantly said that both Ari and Ethan were newly single when things started to get romantic.
And now, it seems Ethan and Lilly’s separation is moving forward, with new reports that the Broadway alum filed for divorce from his highschool sweetheart this week.
Per TMZ, Ethan filed the legal docs yesterday in New York, and there isn’t yet a reason listed for the breakdown of their marriage.
News of the divorce follows a slew of various insider quotes alleging that Ethan’s ex is “devastated” over his relationship with Ari, and she feels that “he abandoned his family.”
According to TMZ, Lilly thinks Ethan “turned his back” on her and their young child, who “won’t have both his mom and dad around” because they “aren't on good terms now that the Ariana relationship is full steam ahead.”
Other sources told Page Six that Lilly was “completely blindsided” by Ethan’s relationship with the singer, given she was under the impression that “nothing appeared wrong” in their marriage.
A third source also alleged to Us Weekly that “Ethan sat Lilly down a few days before the news broke about him and Ariana and said that he wanted a divorce.”
Of course, this is all speculation right now, and other insiders have spoken out in Ethan’s defense, claiming that reports he “abandoned his family” are “completely untrue.”
Meanwhile, it seems like things between Ethan and Ari are moving ahead, with a source telling TMZ that they “are just trying to lay low and be respectful of their exes as they pursue this new relationship.”
As it stands, Ariana and Dalton are yet to officially file for divorce, but apparently the documents are expected imminently.
The news of Ethan’s divorce comes just days after a video breaking down the ways in which Ariana has seemingly been caught up in numerous other relationship breakdowns went viral.
