Ariana Grande’s ‘Eternal Sunshine’ tour begins in Oakland
Ariana Grande is back on stage with the start of her “Eternal Sunshine” tour. The star kicked things off on June 6, 2026 in Oakland, California.
Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine,” co-starring Ethan Slater, wasn’t meant to be like that. USA TODAY has confirmed that the two have broken up nearly three years after their relationship was first reported.
People and TMZ reported on June 8, citing unnamed sources close to the actors, that the “Wicked” stars had quietly broken up several months ago. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Grande and Slater for comment.
The news comes on the heels of Grande, 32, kicking off her Eternal Sunshine Tour on June 6, six years after her Sweetener World Tour.
Their next album, Petal, is scheduled for release on July 30th.
Their relationship got off to a rocky start in July 2023, when reports about their relationship began to emerge amid their respective breakups from their respective spouses, sparking backlash from their co-stars.. Slater and Grande have kept a low profile throughout the global promotion of Wicked and its sequel, Wicked: For Good, but they have occasionally publicly supported each other at events and on social media.
“Of course, I went through a lot of life changes while filming this movie,” Grande said in a September 2024 Vanity Fair feature. “A lot of people who were working on it did. We were apart for two years. So I understand why it was a field day for the tabloids to create some kind of thing that would pay the bills.”
Grande said she would “never go into details” about her relationship with Slater, but said the “most unfortunate part” of the situation was that “so many people believed the worst.”
“It’s definitely been a tough road,” she added. The Grammy winner defended Slater, saying, “There is no more accurate depiction of a person than what the tabloids spread about him.”
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship sparked amid divorce
After nearly three years of marriage, Grande and her husband Dalton Gomez filed for divorce in September 2023. The couple had separated several months earlier, but their divorce was finalized six months later. Slater reportedly began divorce proceedings with his wife Lily Jay in New York on July 26, 2023, and the divorce was finalized in September 2024 after five years of marriage.
A day after Slater filed for divorce, Jay told Page Six that Grande was “not a girl’s girl,” adding, “My family is just collateral damage.”
Jay slammed Slater’s high-profile relationship in a December 2024 essay for The Cut.
“Slowly but surely, I came to believe that even though the life I had planned with my high school sweetheart was gone, there was still a sweet life for me and my child,” Jay wrote. “While our partnership has changed, our parent-child relationship has not. Regardless of how parenting time is divided, we both will always love our son 100 percent.”
(This story has been updated with new information.)
Contributor: Brendan Morrow
