Are Ariana Grande and boyfriend Ethan Slater over for good?
The actor was asked in an interview on Friday’s Today show what it was like “working with[his]girlfriend every day,” but he dodged the question.
Slater, 33, redirected co-host Craig Melvin’s question and instead called “the whole cast[of Wicked: For Good]…amazing.”
The Broadway star acknowledged that Grande, 32, is an “amazing” actress, but he also raved about “remarkable” Cynthia Erivo.
It was “pretty special” for Slater to watch Grande and Erivo, 38, play Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, “up close and at a very high level,” he gushed.
“We filmed it years ago,” the Tony Award nominee explained to viewers. “I never forgot how great their performance was, but I loved being able to watch it with the audience.”
Slater said he “used to sit through all the premieres” because it was “fun” to “feel the energy of the audience.”
He concluded, “I’m so proud of everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with. We’re like family.”
As Slater and Grande distanced themselves on the red carpet and rumors of a breakup swirled, Slater’s cryptic answer came out.
Representatives for Slater and Grande did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Notably, Slater posted a photo of the Grammy winner on his Instagram carousel earlier this month, but the photo didn’t show any PDA.
The pair first dated in July 2023, the same month Slater filed for divorce from his wife Lily Jay, with whom he now has a 3-year-old son.
Jay then lashed out at Grande, claiming to Page Six that the former Nickelodeon star is “not a girl’s girl.”
Grande ended her marriage to real estate broker Dalton Gomez later that year.
In a November 2024 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” the “Side to Side” singer praised her new partner, calling her “adorable” and “amazing.”
Slater described their relationship as “a beautiful thing” in a chat with GQ last month.
As for Jay, she gave rare insight into her and Slater’s co-parenting dynamic in a December 2024 essay published in The Cut.
“While our partnership has changed, our parentage has not,” she wrote at the time. “We both have always loved our son dearly, regardless of how parenting time is divided.”
The therapist classified her days with her children as “sunny” and admitted that “the days are dark when you can’t escape the promotion of movies related to the saddest days of your life.”
