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Wicked continues to bring in the bucks at the box office with many moviegoers making repeat visits to sing along (or not!) with the emotionally impactful songs. While many of us can’t wait for Wicked: Part 2 to hit the 2025 movie calendar, there’s at least one person who probably wishes it would all go away. Over a year after Ariana Grande started dating Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, Slater’s ex-wife has opened up about him leaving, and she did not hold back in telling what that’s done to their family and her career.
Lilly Jay and Ethan Slater were high school sweethearts and married for about five years before the actor left her for Ariana Grande. The relationship has had a profound effect on Jay, not only in her personal life with a new baby, but as a psychologist who not only enjoyed an anonymous life off of social media and also required it for work. In a first-person account on The Cut, she said of course nobody ever thinks their marriage is going to end, writing:
But 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. In this season of shock and mourning, over a year after the end of my marriage was made public, I deeply miss the life of invisibility I created for myself as a psychologist specializing in women’s mental health.
Ethan Slater and Lilly Jay’s marriage may have been private, but the same wasn’t true for Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez. Rumors had been swirling for months that there were issues, especially after she was spotted without her wedding ring in July 2023. Their divorce announcement followed shortly after, along with the revelation that she had moved on with a fellow Wicked cast member.
Meanwhile, Lilly Jay had relocated to the UK with their 2-month old baby when Wicked began filming, and despite some reports that Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater were both already separated when their relationship started, Jay was allegedly blindsided:
Consumed by the magic and mundanity of new motherhood, I didn’t understand the growing distance between us.
Questions have been raised about Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship timeline, as Grande said she separated from Dalton Gomez in February 2023. However, the couple posted glowing Valentine’s Day tributes to each other that year, and they were seen on double-dates with Slater and Lilly Jay as late as April 2023. Insiders also said they were sloppy about hiding the affair on set.
Ethan Slater’s ex-wife previously said her family was just “collateral damage” in Ariana Grande and Slater’s story, and that’s something she’s working to accept. 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. This, I tell myself, is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide.
The singer has reportedly faced backlash from her own circle, and Lilly Jay’s friends have also allegedly slammed Ariana Grande, particularly for her song “Yes, And?” with lyrics that seem to taunt Jay and anyone else upset by her and her co-star’s relationship. Jay continued:
Slowly but surely, I have come to believe that in the absence of the life I planned with my high-school sweetheart, a lifetime of sweetness is waiting for me and my child. 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.
Lilly Jay is certainly not in an enviable position in trying to avoid Wicked promotion. Love them or hate them, Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship has caught the public’s interest. The new couple had reportedly moved in together by December 2023, and ahead of the movie’s release, they were caught sharing a sweet moment on the red carpet.
The not-so-new couple does seem to be solid, but it’s hard to deny that their romance caused some damage along the way.