Ethan Slater reportedly found out through a friend that Ariana Grande had gotten back together with ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez.
“Although Ariana hasn’t told Ethan specifically, mutual friends have told him that Ariana is dating Ricky again,” a source told the Daily Mail on Friday.
Another source said the pop star was in constant contact with Alvarez, but claimed she “never crossed the line while she was with Ethan.”
“It was important for her to maintain loose contact with him because they still had mutual friends,” the source explained.
The same source claimed that the photographer is “very happy to be back in his old life and looking for a second chance to be what he originally wanted.”
A source told the Daily Mail: “Ariana and Ricky are fully back in each other’s lives and are together.
“What ultimately drew her together was the comfort and familiarity they shared,” they continued. “She doesn’t feel like she has to prove herself, and there’s some trust that comes from knowing each other so well.”
But sources insisted the pair, who briefly dated from 2015 to 2016, are not simply “picking up where they left off”.
“They are rethinking their relationship from a different perspective, talking openly about what went wrong before, and making a conscious effort not to repeat those mistakes,” the source explained. “They’re approaching their relationship with more maturity and a clearer understanding of each other. That’s not a normal Ariana thing.”
Page Six has reached out to representatives for Grande and Slater for comment.
Grande, 33, and the former backup dancer, 35, first sparked rumors of a reconciliation in late June when they were spotted hanging out with friends at a restaurant in Austin, Texas, on the Grammy winner’s birthday.
Grande was then photographed at a Whole Foods grocery store over the Fourth of July weekend in her hometown of Boca Raton, Florida.
Adding fuel to the rumors, the singer sharply changed the lyrics of her hit song “Thank U Next” during her “Eternal Sunshine” tour, which provoked her fan base.
The 2018 song, in which she names several of her ex-boyfriends, originally featured lyrics about Alvarez: “I wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh.”
But during a July 13 show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, she sang, “I wrote some songs about Ricky/We always find our way back,” which went viral on social media.
Grande and Alvarez started making headlines just weeks after news of her breakup with Ethan Slater broke.
On June 6, Page Six confirmed that the “Wicked” co-stars had quietly separated after three years of dating.
“Ariana and Ethan broke up a few months ago but have remained friends ever since and have nothing but respect and admiration for each other,” a source told Us at the time. “This was not a decision they made lightly, but they realized they were better off as friends than in a committed relationship.”
The source added: “Ariana is truly happy and focused on her next chapter: the Eternal Sunshine tour and the release of her album Petal.”
