Things are getting increasingly messy between Ethan Slater, Ariana Grande, and Lilly Jay—at least according to ~sources~ speaking out on the situation. To get everyone on the same page real quick: Ethan and Ariana met on the set of Wicked and appear to be dating. But! Several sources have insisted that they were both separated from their respective spouses (Lilly Jay and Dalton Gomez) when they got together.
That said, the situation with Ethan and Lilly Jay is slightly more complicated now that she’s broken her silence, telling Page Six, “[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage.”
And now an insider is out here claiming Ariana, Ethan, and Lilly were hanging as friends when Ethan and Ari were getting to know each other on set.
“Lilly hung out with Ethan and Ariana so many times,” a source tells the Daily Mail. “Ariana met their baby and even held him. They had dinners together in London—and Ariana told Lilly that she wanted to have a baby one day and that she couldn’t wait to start a family.”
The Daily Mail’s source claims Lilly actually found out about Ethan and Ariana after visiting him on set—but that they made the decision to “put it behind them and work on their marriage.”
“There was a period when they were all going to try and work on their marriages and put the whole thing behind them,” the source explains. “She thought they were happy. But that did not work out [because Ariana and Ethan] kept the affair going despite [that].”
Apparently, Lilly was “blindsided” by Ethan’s recent divorce filing, and thinks he was “starstruck” as a “new dad in a new country who had never been on a major movie set before.” Meanwhile, there’s zero possibility of a reunion: “She is now raising her son as a single mother and there is no chance of redemption for Ethan as far as she is concerned. What this has done to her family is absolutely disgusting.”
Just FYI, a source tells Page Six that while Lilly’s “rightfully upset because her marriage fell apart,” Ariana and Ethan “didn’t do anything wrong.” Also, “Ethan is trying to take the high road and hopes he can resolve this situation for the sake of their child.”
Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm, She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.