Ouch! Everything Ethan Slater’s ex-wife has said about his Wicked romance with Ariana Grande

Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande’s relationship has cast a spell on everyone but the former’s ex-wife and high school sweetheart Lilly Jay.

Wicked has been a monumental success, which is even more impressive when you consider the amount of controversy that surrounded the set during the early days of filming. The scandal centred on Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater after they ditched their respective partners for a whirlwind romance – get it, like the tornado from The Wizard of Oz?

But for all the scandalous stories and insider comments, one person – Ethan’s childhood sweetheart and baby mama Lilly Jay – was overlooked and isolated as her former flame was attending premieres and swanky celebrity parties with his new beaux.

Well, that ends now with everything Lilly has said about Ariana and Ethan. There will be a little dash of salacious scandal, of course.

Glinda didn’t like Boq, but Ariana certainly liked Ethan

ariana and ethan meeting a fan while looking for christmas trees 🥲 pic.twitter.com/OVgMznxkon

— cameron (@cambeserious) December 2, 2024

Unlike the film, which starts with a celebration of Elphaba being seemingly killed, this wicked story starts in 2012 when Ethan Slater and Lilly Jay began dating in school. They continued their relationship for almost 10 years before their split, marrying in November 2018 and welcoming a son in August 2022. Remember that last date for later!

Fast forwarding to December 2022 when one Ariana Grande met Broadway actor Ethan Slater on the set of the Wicked film. Was it instant sparks? Who knows. Come July 2023, seven months after filming for Wicked started, Ariana announced that she was separating and divorcing her then-husband Dalton Gomez, who she had been with for three and a half years. Ten days after that Ethan filed for divorce, though they maintain that there was a two-month break between the initial separation and the Ariana romance.

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By the end of July, rumours of a set romance were swirling online and neither Ariana nor Ethan seemed to deny the speculation. Though they kept tight-lipped, Lilly was finding her voice.

“[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girls’ girl,” she told Page Six. “My family is just collateral damage.”

At the same time, a source close to Lilly said she was “rightfully upset” and that, “Ethan is trying to take the high road and hopes he can resolve this situation for the sake of their child.”

She was focused on being a single mother

As #apologisetoAriana was trending and Twitter became a battlefield for critics and supporters of Ethan and Ariana’s relationship, Lilly gave an interview to the MailOnline that illustrated her sole focus at that time.

“I am focused on rebuilding a life for our son,” she said.  “This is what I am trying to do and this is my only focus.”

Ethan’s ex-wife took back the ‘girls girl’ comment – kinda

ariana and ethan are actually so cute together 😭 pic.twitter.com/YDHS5kaLcg

— SETHY 🪐 (@sethspov) July 17, 2024

In August 2023, sources close to Lilly Jay claimed she didn’t know what being on the record meant when she gave the interview, suggesting she wouldn’t have dubbed Ariana “Not a girls’ girl” if she had known it would be published. Sorry, no takebacks.

She reportedly told friends and Ethan that she was committed to co-parenting their son amid continued speculation and media leaks.

Lilly has remained eerily tight-lipped ever since, though this could be because she learned her lesson the first time with the “not a girls’ girl” comment.

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Featured Image credit: Instagram/Michelle Yeoh/Ethan Slater