Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande are ‘relieved’ that Slater’s ex-wife Lilly Jay kept her cool in an emotional essay she penned about her divorce from the Wicked actor.
On Thursday, Jay broke her silence on the end of her marriage to Slater, which resulted in him finding love with his Wicked co-star Grande.
‘They’re relieved that Lilly didn’t throw them under the bus,’ a source spilled to DailyMail.com.
‘Ethan and Ariana are fully aware of what happened, as is everyone who was around at the time. [Lilly] made it clear that she moved to London with him and the timeline from that point forward speaks for itself,’ they continued.
‘Filming was still occurring when they were first seen being intimate in photos and Lilly was no longer there so people can put two and two together – Lilly didn’t need to.’
The source explained that while the former couple’s divorce agreement ‘restricted [Jay] from disclosing certain details about the events that transpired’ around their split, it didn’t prevent Jay from ‘expressing her emotions surrounding the ordeal.’
‘During the legal proceedings, Lilly was essentially silenced, unable to speak freely. Despite the circumstances, she came out of the divorce a winner,’ they said.
The insider said that the psychologist ‘showed dignity’ by not publicly discussing ‘the affair’.
Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande are ‘relieved’ that Slater’s ex-wife Lilly Jay kept her cool in an emotional essay she penned about her divorce from the Wicked actor
‘Lilly was essentially silenced, unable to speak freely. Despite the circumstances, she came out of the divorce a winner,’ a source said
‘She knows that one day her son will read about this online and she wanted him to read that her first and only words on this were done so in a respectful and classy manner,’ they explained.
They also claimed that Jay took a swipe at her ex-husband in the essay.
‘The “sponge” analogy was a subtle jab at the situation, but now that her story is out, she feels liberated,’ they said.
‘Though she was approached by nearly every media outlet, Lilly didn’t want to give an interview until she was ready. She wanted to control her own narrative and tell her story on her terms. And she did just that.’
DailyMail.com has contacted reps for Jay, Grande, and Slater for comment.
In an essay for The Cut, published on Thursday, the clinical psychologist, who shares a two-year-old son with Slater, reflected on navigating life as a single mom and the end of her more than decade-long relationship.
‘Motherhood, I have learned, fills your time but not your mind,’ she wrote.
‘In the countless hours I spend rocking my son to sleep, pushing his stroller, marveling at his sweaty little hands grasping a crayon, I work diligently on my private project of accepting the sudden public downfall of my marriage.’
Slater, 32, began dating Grande, 31, following his separation from Jay (pictured together last month)
‘Ethan and Ariana are fully aware of what happened, as is everyone who was around at the time,’ a source told DailyMail.com
In her essay, Jay noted that she had not prepared to get divorced right after giving birth to her first child as her husband moved on ‘with a celebrity’ (Slater pictured in November with Grande)
She continued: ‘This, I tell myself, is nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide.’
Jay also reflected how nobody ‘one gets married thinking they’ll get divorced, in the same way we don’t board a plane expecting to crash.’
‘But I really never thought I would get divorced. Especially not just after giving birth to my first child and especially not in the shadow of my husband’s new relationship with a celebrity,’ Jay noted, alluding to his relationship with Grande.
Despite their split, she still praised Slater for being a wonderful co-parent as she stated that while their ‘partnership has changed’ their ‘parenthood has not.’
Jay explained that while ‘people from [her] past have reached out to say they saw my face in a tabloid’ that her ‘patients have remained silent’ about it.
‘At the Children’s Hospital, my invisibility was welcome protection from hard conversations for me and my patients,’ she said.
At her lowest, she said that she ‘feared that loss of control and postpartum depression would destroy’ her for her ‘entire adult life.’
Additionally, Jay noted that her career has seemingly been affected by her and Slater’s public fallout.
Jay and Slater officially finalized their divorce in September after separating last year; Slater pictured with Lilly
This has, admittedly, left her to stew angrily on ‘darker days’ about ‘the unfairness of a public divorce.’
‘Slowly but surely, I have come to believe that in the absence of the life I planned with my high-school sweetheart, a lifetime of sweetness is waiting for me and my child,’ she told readers.
‘You know how a sponge is most effective at absorbing liquid when it’s already a bit wet? Maybe we can think about my messy not-so-personal life in that way: a dose of my own loss, rage, powerlessness, sadness that helps me hold yours.’
Jay and Slater officially finalized their divorce in September after separating last year.
Slater filed for divorce on July 26, 2023, five years after he tied the knot with Jay, who he began dating when they were both just teenagers.
At the time, Grande was still married to Dalton Gomez; she filed for divorce in September 2023 and listed the date of separation as February 20, 2023.
Grande’s divorce was settled in October 2023, with the performer making a single $1,250,000 payment to Gomez in lieu of spousal support.
She also paid $25k of the real estate broker’s attorney fees.
Grande and Slater met in December 2022 on the UK set of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, in which Ariana plays Glinda — the good witch — alongside Ethan as munchkin Boq.
Both parties announced they had split from their spouses within a few days of each other.
In October, Slater addressed the backlash over his and Grande’s relationship amid infidelity rumors
Grande announced her separation from Gomez just three days before confirming her new relationship with Ethan, who then filed for divorce from Lilly.
He cited irreconcilable differences and asked for joint custody of their two-year-old son.
Jay later damned Grande in a series of disparaging interviews, telling Page Six the music artist is ‘not a girl’s girl’ and adding that ‘my family is just collateral damage’ to her.
In October, Slater addressed the backlash over his and Grande’s relationship amid infidelity rumors.
‘I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public,’ he told GQ.
He continued: ‘There were a lot of big changes 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.’
Last month, Grande insisted that ‘there couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him [Slater].’
‘No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about,’ she told Vanity Fair.
