wicked

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater have reportedly ended their relationship after almost three years together.

According to multiple outlets, the former couple — who met on the set of the 2024 musical blockbuster “Wicked” — quietly called it quits several months ago.

“It’s amicable, they gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” a source told People. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”

The “Thank U, Next” singer, 32, and “SpongeBob SquarePants” actor, 34, had been linked since 2023. They made their relationship Instagram-official in 2024 in the lead-up to the release of “Wicked,” in which Grande starred as G(a)linda the Good while Slater portrayed Munchkin and future-Tin Man Boq.

Their dating rumors were scrutinized at the time because Grande and Slater both had highly publicized splits from former spouses around the same time. Grande was previously married to real estate agent Dalton Gomez, while Slater had been married to psychologist Lilly Jay, his high-school sweetheart with whom he shares a child.

In March, Slater wrapped the off-Broadway run of “Marcel on the Run.” In addition to co-writing the play with Marshall Pailet, Slater portrayed mime artist Marcel Marceau.

Grande, meanwhile, embarked on her Eternal Sunshine tour in Oakland on Saturday. This marks the “Hate That I Made You Love Me” singer’s first tour since 2019. Grande is slated for five shows in Los Angeles beginning June 13.

This might be the last time fans can catch Grande at a live concert — at least for a while. In November, she mentioned these shows might be her “last hurrah” as a touring pop star.

“I’m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long time,” she said on the “Good Hang With Amy Poehler” podcast. “So I’m going to give it my all, and it’s going to be beautiful, and I think that’s why I’m doing it, because it’s like, one last hurrah.”

Grande’s next album, “Petal,” will be released July 31.

Ariana Grande and boyfriend Ethan Slater have broken up, according to reports.

The couple, who starred in both Wicked films, had been together for three years.

TMZ reports that the separation is amicable and the pair remain good friends.

Unlike Lily Allen’s searingly personal music after her split rom husband David Harbour, the publication writes that Ariana’s new upcoming album, Petal, isn’t inspired by her own split.

Meanwhile People claims the pair “have been quietly broken up for several months.”

This tallies with rumours that had been swirling around the relationship prior to the split that the pair were struggling to make their busy schedules work.

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The Sun has contacted representatives for Ethan and Ariana for comment.

Just this weekend, on the very first night of Ariana’s Eternal Sunshine Tour at the weekend, her fans thought she’d put the speculation to bed by alluding to an engagement.

While singing her hit Thank U, Next, she changed the lyrics from “Only wanna do it once, real bad” to “twice” as she playfully held up two fingers and laughed.

It sent fans wild, but now it’s clear it was a red herring.

The couple got together in controversial circumstances.

Ariana, 32, split from her ex-husband Dalton Gomez in 2023 after almost three years of marriage.

Around the same time, Ethan went through a messy divorce from Lilly Jay, his wife of five years, just a year after the birth of their son, Ezra.

Despite rumours alleging Ethan’s romance started with Ariana on the set of Wicked while he was still married to Lilly, sources close to the pop star insist the couple had been separated for two months.

“Ariana’s the story really. Not a girl’s girl,” Lilly previously said.

“My family is just collateral damage… The story is her and Dalton.”

She added: “As for me, days with my son are sunny. Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker.”

Ethan and Ariana moved in together in New York in 2023 — before her divorce was finalised.

She defended her man publicly in a Vanity Fair interview in 2024 amid criticism of the way his previous relationship ended.

Ariana said: “No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about.”

And she admitted that the narrative had hurt her, adding: “The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it.”

Everyone wants to be “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” as the 20-year sequel strutted to an estimated $77 million in the U.S. and Canada in its opening weekend, highlighting the spending power of women moviegoers at the box office.

The film, which returned stars Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, nudged out Lionsgate’s “Michael” for the domestic top spot at theaters this weekend. In its second outing, the Michael Jackson biopic brought in $54 million, upping its overall North American total to $183.8 million and its cumulative global haul to $423.9 million.

Worldwide, Walt Disney Co.-owned 20th Century Studios’ “The Devil Wears Prada 2” brought in $233.6 million, according to studio estimates. The theatrical revenue, both domestic and worldwide, edged studio expectations. Already, the film has brought in 72% of the total revenue that the original movie made ($326 million).

The 2006 original has become a cult classic, with lines like Streep’s infamous “that’s all” and Tucci’s “gird your loins” now millennial catchphrases. The popularity of that film has continued over time with repeat viewings on cable television and the Disney+ streaming service.

“Nostalgia is a big driving factor for movies like this,” Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for Walt Disney Studios, said. “It’s just one of those movies that got into the zeitgeist.”

The fashion-forward sequel had a production budget of about $100 million. The film notched a 77% approval rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Women comprised the majority of the audience for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” this weekend, representing 71% of moviegoers, according to data from EntTelligence.

The strong showing for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” highlights the spending potential of female moviegoers, who have had few big movies aimed at them in the last few years.

Despite the billion-dollar blockbuster that was “Barbie” in 2023, Hollywood has largely failed to consistently deliver big films targeted to women. That’s led multiple box office analysts and studio executives to note that the industry is leaving money on the table.

In the past, comparable titles to “The Devil Wears Prada 2” would have been 2008’s “Mamma Mia” or the “Sex in the City” film, but those kinds of movies are now few and far between.

More recent female-focused fare includes last year’s “Wicked: For Good” and Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” though “Wicked” has the benefit of also having a longtime Broadway fanbase.

“There haven’t been enough movies for females,” Cripps said. “When you can give them a good movie, as long as the movie plays well and I think this one plays brilliantly, there’s a big audience out there.”

Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” continued its run with a third place finish of $12.1 million at the box office this weekend, followed by Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary” in fourth and Neon’s horror flick “Hokum” in fifth, according to Comscore data.