Ariana Grande appeared to be more attentive to her mother than her partner Ethan Slater during the 2025 Oscars, as she seemed to avoid any public displays of affection.
Video footage from E! News captured the couple standing together, but Grande was then seen taking her mother, Joan’s hand and moving away from Slater.
And, according to body language expert Patti Wood, there’s more than meets the eye to their rather non-affectionate interaction.Â
‘She clearly wants out of an intimate shot of the two of them,’ Wood told DailyMail.com exclusively of Grande.Â
An observer noted, “She steps back so they are not side by side and reaches out to grab her mother’s arm to seek her protection, making her look like a little girl.”
‘She even brings her right hand and arm, which are holding her purse, behind her!’
The body language expert noted that the Wicked actress seemed to ‘pull her mother’ in between her and Slater at one point.
However, Slater seemed to ignore all of these signs, as he continued to talk to her.Â
‘He is ignoring her body language, but clearly because he is a smitten fan,’ Wood said.
Interestingly enough, Grande’s aversion towards PDA even seemed to be noticeable down to the way that she was dressed.
The Thank U, Next, hitmaker wore a dramatic, pale pink Schiaparelli ballgown with a corset top and dramatic skirt that flared out into glittering tulle.
The sizeable shape of the dress almost looked like that of a cake topper. Â
‘I was already intrigued by her dress that sticks out on all sides, giving her pelvis (the sexual part of the anatomy) protection and creating a barrier for anyone to get too close to her,’ Wood told DailyMail.com.
She noted that Grande’s look reminded her of the dramatic hat that Melania Trump wore at President Carter’s funeral this winter.
Notably, the couple didn’t walk the red carpet together on Sunday, either, arriving about an hour apart from each other.
Slater and Grande have been dating since the summer of 2023, but it was later alleged that they were involved romantically for months before, having grown close while on the set of Wicked.
 Grande was previously married to Dalton Gomez, and Slater to Lilly Jay, who he shares a two-year-old son with.
Jay had moved to London, where Slater was filming Wicked, with their newborn at the time.
In an essay for The Cut in December, Slater’s ex-wife reflected on navigating life as a single mom and the end of her more than decade-long relationship.
‘Motherhood, I have learned, fills your time but not your mind,’ she wrote.
‘In the countless hours I spend rocking my son to sleep, pushing his stroller, marveling at his sweaty little hands grasping a crayon, I work diligently on my private project of accepting the sudden public downfall of my marriage.’
She continued: ‘This, I tell myself, is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide.’
