Celebrity News
Ethan Slater and Ex-Wife Lilly Jay’s Relationship Status After Ariana Grande Split Revealed
Ethan Slater and his ex-wife, Lilly Jay, won’t be getting back together following his breakup with Ariana Grande.
On Sunday, August 2, TMZ reported that sources said there is “absolutely not” any romantic flame between the former high school sweethearts. A source told the outlet neither the Broadway star, 34, nor the clinical psychologist is looking to reconcile, despite online chatter.
Sources on Jay’s side explained that their connection as co-parents — they share a son born in August 2022 — is being mistaken for something else.
As Star previously reported, Slater met Grande, 32, while filming Wicked in late 2022 and filed for divorce from Jay in 2023. The pop star and the SpongeBob SquarePants star became romantically linked that year.
In an emotional essay for The Cut published in December 2024, Jay explained, “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.”
However, Jay noted at the time, “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.”
In June, People reported that the “thank u, next” hitmaker and Slater had “quietly broken up” several months prior, after almost three years together.
Following the breakup news, Jay was spotted in downtown Jersey City with a toddler believed to be her son.
“It was obvious Lily is a very hands-on mom,” an eyewitness told Star. “She kept her son close the entire time, and you could see her pointing toward the players on the court, almost like she was explaining what was happening. She seemed completely focused on him and just came across as a really nice, down-to-earth mom.”
As for Grande, she recently rekindled her romance with her former backup dancer Ricky Alvarez, whom she dated in 2015 and 2016.
“Ariana hasn’t told Ethan specifically, but mutual friends have told him that she is now dating Ricky again,” a source told the Daily Mail in July.
