'Wicked' Star Ethan Slater's Devastated Ex-Wife Lilly Jay Sensationally Breaks Silence on His Ariana Grande Romance — 'I Couldn't Escape the Darkness'
Grande and Slater met while filming the hit movie 'Wicked.'
Dec. 20 2024, Published 12:59 p.m. ET
Wicked star Ethan Slater's devastated ex-wife, Lilly Jay, has broken her silence on his romance with co-star Ariana Grande.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the pop singer was reportedly hooking up with Slater when he was still married – and shortly after the actor and Jay welcomed their first child together.
Slater and Jay were high school sweehearts.
Back in December 2022, Grande, 31, started filming for the upcoming film Wicked when she was still married to her ex-husband, real estate agent Dalton Gomez, 29.
Just months after filming for the movie started, rumors began swirling that Grande and Gomez split in the summer of 2023 and that the former couple was “quietly and lovingly working on their friendship."
Just days later, reports surfaced that Grande was dating Slater — which allegedly began after he separated from his wife and high school sweetheart, Jay.
After the news broke about Grande's romance with her then-married co-star, Slater filed for divorce from Jay.
Over the last few weeks, Slater and Grande have been traveling around the world to promote their film, Wicked.
Jay opened up about the "public downfall" of her marriage and her ex-husband's extremely famous new girlfriend in an essay for The Cut.
She wrote: "No one gets married thinking they'll get divorced, in the same way we don't board a plane expecting to crash. But I really never thought I would get divorced. Especially not just after giving birth to my first child and especially not in the shadow of my husband's new relationship with a celebrity."
The exes share one son together.
She added: "In this season of shock and mourning, over a year after the end of my marriage was made public, I deeply miss the life of invisibility I created for myself as a psychologist specializing in women's mental health."
Despite calling her days spent with her only son "sunny," she admitted: "Days when I can't escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker."
Slater and Jay started dating when they were just teens and were married from 2018 to 2024.
Jay continued in the essay: "Slowly but surely, I have come to believe that in the absence of the life I planned with my high school sweetheart, a lifetime of sweetness is waiting for me and my child. While our partnership has changed, our parenthood has not. Both of us fiercely love our son 100 percent of the time, regardless of how our parenting time is divided."
Grande and Slater's romance started on-set.
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Following the messy divorce and Slater's public romance with Grande, Jay explained that she believed it was time to "introduce" herself to the world.
She explained: "You know how a sponge is most effective at absorbing liquid when it's already a bit wet? Maybe we can think about my messy not-so-personal life in that way: a dose of my own loss, rage, powerlessness, sadness that helps me hold yours."
Grande and Slater remained a bit quiet after their relationship was made public, but the One Last Time singer opened up about the backlash the actor received in an interview.
The singer explained: 'The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it. There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him.'
