Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater Find Relief in Ex-Wife Lilly Jay’s Essay About Their Divorce

Ariana Grande also went through a divorce from her ex-husband, Dalton Gomez, shortly before the start of her romance with Ethan Slater.

Last year, Slater and Grande courted controversy over their relationship, which was said to have contributed to his breakup with his ex-wife, Jay.

Since those rumors, Slater and Jay have divorced, and she kept her silence about the ordeal until recently penning an emotional essay about it.

Following the release of the essay, sources close to Slater and Grande mentioned that the duo had gone through the essay and feel relieved that Jay did not accuse them.

A source cited in the Daily Mail stated, “Ethan and Ariana are fully aware of the situation, as is anyone who was present at that time. [Lilly] mentioned that she relocated to London with him, and the subsequent timeline speaks for itself.”

They added, “Filming was still occurring when they were first seen being intimate in photos and Lilly was no longer there so people can put two and two together – Lilly didn’t need to.”

According to the source, Slater and Jay’s divorce agreement “restricted” her from “disclosing certain details” about how their relationship deteriorated.

“During the legal proceedings, Lilly was essentially silenced, unable to speak freely. Despite the circumstances, she came out of the divorce a winner,” the source said.

However, Jay could still express her “emotions surrounding the ordeal,” and while she did so, she “showed dignity” by not highlighting the “affair” in her emotional piece.

“She knows that one day her son will read about this online and she wanted him to read that her first and only words on this were done so in a respectful and classy manner,” the insider explained about the psychologist’s decision.

They also claimed that it took Jay this long to break her silence because she wanted to “control her own narrative and tell her story on her terms” rather than leave it to the media outlets that approached her.

Among the many things she discussed in her essay for The Cut, Jay revealed that she not only accepted the sudden public downfall of her marriage but is also not ashamed of it.

She wrote, “I tell myself, is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide. Slowly but surely, I have come to believe that in the absence of the life I planned with my high-school sweetheart.”

Still, she and the actor, who shares a two-year-old son, have continued to co-parent the child while moving on with the new chapters of their lives,

She added, “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. 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.”

Previously, sources shared that Jay was “completely blindsided” by Slater’s relationship with Grande, who had also split from her husband Dalton Gomez.

“It’s horrible. They were high school sweethearts. They have a baby! She’s a wreck,” a source toldPage Six.

At the time, the source also hinted that Grande played a part in their “breakup,” as “nothing appeared wrong between” Slater and Jay prior to him meeting the pop star on the set of “Wicked.”

Jay also slammed Grande in an interview with Page Six amid calls for her to tell her story,

“[Ariana’s] the story, really. Not a girl’s girl,” Jay told the outlet. “My family is just collateral damage.”

Since the singer’s romance with Slater became public knowledge, they have unabashedly flaunted it. In September last year, they were spotted enjoying a couple’s trip to Disney World

However, Jay, who has mostly stayed under the radar until her recent essay, told the news outlet that she’s focused on raising her and Slater’s baby and being “a good mom.”