It’s the controversial romance that threatens to overshadow box office phenomenon Wicked. Nearly a decade in the making, the film version of the Broadway musical was intended to recreate the magic of the 1939 classic The Wizard Of Oz, by telling the backstory of its two witches Elphaba and Glinda.
But thanks to a rather unseemly love triangle involving pop singer Ariana Grande and her co-star Ethan Slater – who plays a munchkin named Boq – there is now a dark cloud hanging over the £120million production.
US chart-topping sensation Ariana, 31, was revealed to be dating Slater in July 2023. The date is important: it was shortly after the end of her two-year marriage to her estate agent husband Dalton Gomez.
But subsequent reports from America suggest that, in fact, Ariana and Ethan, 32, had already taken a shine to each other some months earlier.
And that’s not all. At the start of filming, Ethan, too, was married to his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay, the mother of his son, now two.
Lilly and the couple’s then-newborn baby had even moved to the UK to be by his side during his tough filming schedule for Wicked at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. But their marriage, too, has now ended in divorce.
A dark cloud is hanging over mega-hit Wicked amid revelations of an unseemly love triangle involving star Ariana Grande
US chart-topping sensation Ariana, 31, was revealed to be dating co-stat Ethan Slater in July 2023
The revelations have prompted a wave of online hatred towards Ariana and Ethan, with some fans even calling on cinema-goers to boycott the film. And,
adding far more personal fuel to the burgeoning fire, Lilly this week described the breakdown of her marriage as ‘the saddest days of my life’ in an article she wrote for US publication The Cut.
Describing how she moved to the UK to support Ethan’s career she revealed that, caught up in being a new mum, she ‘didn’t understand the growing distance between us’.
‘Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker,’ she wrote.
‘Motherhood, I have learned, fills your time but not your mind, I work diligently on my private project of accepting the sudden public downfall of my marriage.
‘I never thought I would get divorced. Especially not just after giving birth to my first child, and not in the shadow of my husband’s new relationship with a celebrity.
‘This, I tell myself, is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide.’
Lilly – a psychologist specialising in pregnancy and postpartum mental health – also speculated that news about the pair’s romance caused her work to dry up.
Her words are careful – and, some might say, even restrained. But as friends of Ethan and Ariana say, the timeline ‘speaks for itself’. One told the Mail: ‘Ethan and Ariana are fully aware of what happened, as is everyone who was around. [Lilly] made it clear that she moved to London with him and the timeline from that point forward speaks for itself.
‘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.’
But Lilly’s dignity has only served to enrage Wicked fans. As one wrote online: ‘Ariana doing what she did was bad but Ethan is the one that went out of his way to entertain her. Either way, they deserve all the hate they get. Better yet, boycott the Wicked movie.’
Such a boycott could, of course, cost Universal Pictures, the firm behind the film, many millions if it gained any traction.
Arian at the Wicked film premiere at the Royal Festival Hall in London last month
It is all far from ideal for Florida-born Ariana, whose career has revolved around being a role model for girls and young women. She was a child actress who then became a wholesome pop star with a young fan base.
In 2017, she had to cope with tragedy after a suicide bomber attacked Manchester Arena during one of her concerts. She later put on a gig to raise money for the families of the 22 who died and the 119 left critically injured.
Ariana was reported to have suffered from post-traumatic stress in the aftermath, and has said: ‘Not a day goes by that this doesn’t affect all of us still.’ Her love life has always matched her wholesome image. She dated actor and comedian Pete Davidson in 2018, and was with singer Mac Miller from 2016 to 2018.
In March 2020, she confirmed her relationship with Gomez, and the pair were engaged by December the same year.
They married in a modest ceremony, in front of only 20 guests, in May 2021. And when they filed for divorce two years later in 2023, they cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ for their split.
Meanwhile, Ethan and Lilly are said to have met in high school and started dating in 2012 while they were in college. Lilly remained loyal to him when he went off to study drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Ethan went on to star in the lead role of a musical production of SpongeBob SquarePants in Chicago, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 2018. He and Lilly married in the same year.
The couple celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary in a since-deleted 2022 Instagram post in which he called her his ‘best friend’, writing: ‘Four years married, ten years together. And this is easily the best (and most *bizarre*) year yet.’ In August 2022, they welcomed their son. But their marriage did not survive for much longer, and their divorce was finalised earlier this year.
In recent months, Ethan has been unable to stop himself from showering Ariana with compliments at any opportunity.
On actress Jennifer Hudson’s talk show last month, he said of his new flame: ‘She’s so funny, a comedy genius, she’s amazing.’
And asked what it’s like ‘to watch the woman you love perform her dream role’, he replied: ‘It has been a real honour to see Ariana do her thing, she’s so talented.
‘People are going to be blown away. She’s the funniest person on the planet.’
The situation is far from ideal for Florida-born Ariana, whose career has revolved around being a role model for girls and young women
Ethan has also met Ariana’s family, and last year the couple enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner in New York with her dad and sister.
Frankie Grande, her brother, has given the relationship his blessing. At the Wicked premiere last month, he said: ‘I love [Ethan], he’s a wonderful guy. I have always said all I want is for my sister to be happy. When she’s happy, I am.’
While it is unlikely they will be thrilled at Lilly’s cry from the heart, friends of Ariana and Ethan say that, ultimately, they are relieved it wasn’t any worse. As one said: ‘They’re relieved Lilly didn’t throw them under the bus.’
But what the implications are for Wicked itself remain to be seen.
