Though plenty of positive messages were left on both posts, Slater’s comment section has been limited since the initial wave of backlash to his relationship with Grande. The pair met on set of the movie musical in late 2022, a time when both actors were married to their previous partners. Having welcomed a child with his high school sweetheart months before filming Wicked, Slater faced particularly intense scrutiny once news of his relationship with Grande went public in July 2023.
While anonymous sources have shared mixed messages about their relationship timeline, Grande has vehemently defended Slater’s character. âThere couldnât be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him,â she told Vanity Fair in September. âNo one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about. There is no one on this earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bullshit tabloid can rewrite in real life.â
For his part, Slater told GQ that the negative attention was âreally difficultâ to process alongside the âbig changesâ happening in his private life. âItâs really hard to see people who donât know anything about whatâs happening commenting on it and speculating, and then getting things wrong about the people you love,â he said in October, before switching gears to gush about Grande.
âIâm just really, really proud of Ari and the work sheâs done on this,â he said at the time. âSheâs poured herself into it. Iâm really proud that I got to be there for that part of it, and Iâm really excited to be there for this next step of it when the world gets to see the amazing thing that she did.â
Thank goodness for today. Wicked is in theaters now.
