The phenomenon Wicked It has already conquered millions of people around the world. The fantasy world, the musical performances and its charismatic protagonists have made the renowned Broadway musical, now adapted to the big screen, break box office records and position itself as one of the big bets for the 2025 Oscars. But despite the great (Boca Raton, Florida, 31 years old), who plays Glinda, and (Stockwell, London, 37 years old), who plays the role of Elphaba, the announcement of the premiere of the second part, scheduled for November of next year, has been marred by an indirect protagonist of this entire plot.
Last summer of 2023, already known as the summer of broken hearts due to her numerous breakups, Grande separated from her husband until then, with whom she had been married for two years. American media did not take long to link the singer with one of her co-stars, (Washington DC, 32 years old). A love story that began, according to close sources, when both were married to their respective partners and during the recordings of Wicked. A year and a half later, and taking advantage of the adaptation boom, Lilly Jay, the actor’s ex-wife, wanted to speak publicly for the first time about everything that happened in those months marked by pain.
He has done so, in a report written in the first person and where, without directly mentioning Grande or Slater at any time, he has detailed the divorce process. How does my divorce make you feel? As a therapist, I try to keep my personal life private. After my public breakup, that was no longer under my control is the title chosen for this unexpected publication that will fully impact its protagonists. “No one gets married thinking they are going to get divorced. “I never thought I would get divorced, especially after giving birth to my first child and in the shadow of my husband’s new relationship with a celebrity,” Jay begins.
In the text she explains that, after becoming a psychologist, she decided to leave social networks aside to focus on her work and thus separate the personal from the professional, without the possibility of her patients being able to access private information. And he achieved it, despite having Slater at his side, who as an actor needed that public visibility. “My partner was on a different path, in which social networks and exposure were not impediments, but needs. We resolved this dilemma by taking walks, eating pizza in our apartment, and excitedly making up rules of engagement about how and what I shared about our life together. It was a precarious balance, but it worked well as life unfolded according to our plans.”
Everything began to change after welcoming their first and only child together. “Mine is a story of worry in the wrong direction. As a perinatal psychologist, I knew all the statistics—how vulnerable a baby is, how vital community connection is to avoiding depression and anxiety, how new motherhood affects the entire family—but I confidently moved to another country with my baby. two months and my husband to support his career. “Consumed by the magic and mundanity of new motherhood, I did not understand the growing distance between us,” she points out about the beginnings of their separation.
Finally, the actor filed for divorce in July 2023, a month before his firstborn’s first birthday. That was the beginning of his “darkest days,” marked by pain and the feeling of having failed a life already planned. “In the absence of the life I planned with my teenage boyfriend, I know that a life of sweetness awaits me and my son,” she points out. He wants to continue being an anonymous person, even though his name has not stopped starring in headlines and news on the occasion of the premiere of Wicked.
“The days with my son are sunny. The days when I can’t escape promoting a movie associated with the saddest moments in my life are darker,” says Jay. It is not the first time he has spoken publicly. Hours after learning of the divorce between Grande and Gomez, when rumors of a possible new relationship began, American media explained that she was “devastated” and “betrayed.”
Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande have preferred to keep a discreet profile since everything became public, but now with the promotion of the film that has been impossible. Even so, they have repeatedly denied that their courtship began at the same time that they remained married. “It is difficult to see people who know nothing about what is happening commenting and speculating,” defended Slater. Despite what happened, the ex-marriage has found a point of balance in which the education and upbringing of their son is what is important. to leave behind one of the most bitter chapters of their lives.
