Ariana Grande seems to be focused on resetting the narrative around her love life on her forthcoming album, “Eternal Sunshine” ― but the first stages of the record’s rollout have only intensified the scrutiny.
In an episode of the “Zach Sang Show” that aired Monday on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, the two-time Grammy winner aired her frustrations with “the tabloids and the media,” presumably referring to the frenzy of coverage surrounding her relationship with her “Wicked” co-star, Ethan Slater.
“We don’t need to go into any specifics,” said Grande, who didn’t mention Slater by name. “But of course there’s, like, an insatiable frustration, [an] inexplicable, hellish feeling with watching people misunderstand the people you love and you.”
Grande’s remarks came at the end of a lengthy discussion with host Zach Sang about “Eternal Sunshine” and her portrayal of Glinda in “Wicked.”
When Sang uploaded a snippet of the interview to his TikTok account, some people were quick to label Grande a “homewrecker.”
“Honey we heard the story from the wife. Being a mistress homewrecker publicly is icky,” one TikTok user wrote.
“Her making it a feminist issue is hilarious, considering what she did,” another wrote.
News of Grande’s romance with Slater broke just days after it was reported that Grande split from her husband, Dalton Gomez, in July last year. At the time, Slater was still married to his wife, Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a 1-year-old son. Slater filed for divorce from Jay a week after news of his and Grande’s relationship came out.
To date, neither Grande nor Slater have commented publicly on the nature of their relationship. The pair, however, have been photographed together on a number of occasions since Slater joined the cast of Broadway’s “Spamalot” last fall.
In January, Grande gave fans their first taste of “Eternal Sunshine” with the song “Yes, And?” which features lyrics that have been widely interpreted as alluding to the controversy.
Listeners can decipher Grande’s thoughts for themselves when the rest of “Eternal Sunshine” is released next week.
