Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater are looking forward to the future following the success of Wicked. The singer is mapping out her dream wedding and planning on starting a family with her beau, a source exclusively tells Life & Style.
“Ariana is madly in love and very eager to marry Ethan. It’s just a matter of timing it right,” the source says. “His divorce was finalized [in September], so he’s free to marry her and they’ve both been talking quite openly about how they plan to spend forever together.”
The insider teased that a Christmas proposal could be in the works because Ariana, 31, “has been dropping loud hints” that she wants a ring as her gift. Plus, the “Thank U, Next” singer already has babies on the brain, according to the source.
“She’s talking about their future kids a lot,” the insider adds. “So that’s something that will likely happen before long as well. [Ethan] does have a child already so she’s had the chance to try out the stepmom role and she says she loves it.”
A “big princess wedding” will come first, though, the source says. “She’s traditional, so unless something throws a wrench in things, everyone is expecting her to marry him next year so they can get to work on having kids,” the insider concludes.
Ari was previously married to Dalton Gomez, but since their nuptials took place amid the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2021, they opted for an intimate affair at her Montecito, California, home. After separating in early 2023 – although the news was not made public until months later – the exes filed for divorce that September and finalized the split in March. Ethan, 32, tied the knot with Lilly Jay in 2018 and welcomed a daughter with her in 2022, but they separated the following year.
Ethan and Ariana were both in their previous relationships when they met on the set of Wicked at the end of 2022, leading to speculation about the timeline of their romance. Ethan faced backlash for dating Ariana immediately after ending things with his wife while they had a young child at home.
The former Nickelodeon star addressed the negativity while promoting Wicked in September. “It definitely doesn’t get any easier, seeing some of the negativity that was birthed by disreputable tabloids,” she admitted in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Of course, I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of this movie. A lot of people that were working on it did. We were away for two years. So, of course, I understand why it was a field day for the tabloids to sort of create something that paid their bills.”
She also defended Ethan from the critics and insisted that things didn’t happen the way the public perceived.”The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it,” Ariana explained. “That was definitely a tough ride.”
The following month, Ethan also weighed in on the situation and praised his girlfriend in the process. “I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public,” the former Broadway star told GQ. “There were a lot of big changs in private lives that were really happening, so it’s really hard to see people who don’t know anything about what’s happening commenting on it and speculating, and then getting things wrong about the people you love. So just to address that part of it … that feels really hard.”
He continued, “But, of course, it was an amazing year and a really beautiful thing and I’m just really excited. I’m just really, really proud of Ari and the work she’s done on this. She’s poured herself into it. I’m really proud that I got to be there for that part of it and I’m really excited to be there for this next step of it when the world gets to see the amazing thing that she did.”
