Ariana Grande Addresses Criticism Amid Ethan Slater Romance
Why did Ariana Grande say thank u, next to ex-husband Dalton Gomez?
While the Grammy winner never publicly addressed her July split from the real estate broker, fans have a renewed interest after listening to her new album eternal sunshine.
The March 8 album pays homage to the 2005 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—where a former couple erase memories of each other after they break up. And the music video for "we can't be friends" recreates the film's scene when Clementine (now played by Ariana) wipes her memories of her ex (Evan Peters). And fans were quick to try and connect the dots.
"You can tell this wasn't just her being a good actress," one user on Youtube reflected. "You can feel her raw emotion so deeply." A fan on X, formerly known as Twitter, explained that one snippet from the video may be referencing a memory of Dalton's birthday. And after watching the music video, another simply asked, "is 'we can't be friends' about ariana & dalton ?"
E! News reached out to Ariana's reps and hasn't heard back.
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After first sparking romance rumors when they were seen kissing in early 2020, Ariana and Dalton tied the knot in May 2021 before splitting two years later. Not long after, she made headlines for her relationship with Ethan Slater—who had recently separated from wife of four years Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a son.
Even though the 30-year-old didn't explicitly note that the album was inspired by her divorce from Dalton, she did share that it was about navigating an emotional breakup.
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Of her song "i wish i hated you," Ariana said on The Zach Sang Show March 8, "I think it's like a very important color to exist within the album, because it's just an important piece of the puzzle to me—that I'm happy to acknowledge the goodness, I really am, and the efforts and that it just was not correct. And I don't need to pretend that you're a monster to make peace with this ending."
"Grieving would be so much easier if we hated a person," she continued. "It's like ‘good riddance,' but no, capturing the complexity of ‘what happens if I don't' is imperative. It's protective as well."
Take a step back in time and relive Ariana and Dalton's relationship.