Truth about Ariana Grande’s extreme weight loss and Ethan Slater breakup: Family and friends ready to stage intervention… as they finally reveal details of worrying ‘pattern’ that has been going on for years

For Ariana Grande, when one door closes, another opens… and as the pop princess kicks off her first major tour in seven years, she has firmly bid farewell to another significant chapter.

That is, her relationship with her Wicked co-star, Ethan Slater.

Just two days into the singer’s Eternal Sunshine Tour, which began this past weekend in Oakland, California, it was revealed Monday that Grande, 32, and Slater, 34, had quietly split several months ago after three years of dating.

The breakup news may not come as a surprise to those who noticed the pair had not been seen together in recent months, with Grande holed up in show rehearsals in Los Angeles.

Now, with Grande, 32, focused on her forty-date tour across North America and Europe, sources say it’s no wonder that her relationship with Slater, 34, had fizzled out. 

After all, those closest to the singer have apparently noticed a ‘pattern’ when it comes to her ‘all-consuming’ romantic relationships, insiders told the Daily Mail.

Just a quick glance at her dating history would show Grande’s tendency to ‘fall hard and fast,’ they suggested, only for her to ‘get swept up’ in the next shiny project – such as a Hollywood movie or pop tour.

But with Grande’s undivided attention now focused on her Eternal Sunshine Tour, it may be more than just her three-year relationship that falls by the wayside, as fans continue to express their growing concerns for her health and increasingly gaunt appearance.

‘Ariana and relationships have always been a bit of a complicated mix,’ one insider told the Daily Mail. ‘She tends to fall hard and fast, and when she does, it’s all-consuming.’

Grande infamously met Slater in late 2022 when they were cast to play Glinda and Boq in the two-part Wicked movie adaptation. At the time, the co-stars were both in relationships with their respective spouses.

The singer separated from her husband of two years, Dalton Gomez, in February 2023 shortly after filming for Wicked began, according to court documents. 

Meanwhile, Slater filed for divorce from his ex-wife Lilly Jay in July 2023, just days after news broke of his relationship with Grande. Slater and Jay share a three-year-old son.

As such, the early days of the relationship faced intense scrutiny. The close timelines led many people to accuse Grande and Slater of having an extramarital affair on the set of Wicked, which she has denied.

Grande’s relationship with Slater also brought about renewed attention to her past romances – including with rappers Mac Miller and Big Sean, and comedian Pete Davidson – as critics called out the singer for allegedly pursuing unavailable men in relationships.

After all, she did release a single in 2019 titled, ‘Break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored.’

Grande, said our insider, finds it ‘easy’ to ‘move on’ from one thing to the next.

‘The person she’s with gets her full attention, and it’s easy to get swept up in that. But then something shifts. A new project comes along – a movie, a tour – and suddenly, the relationship isn’t the center of her world anymore,’ they said.

‘That’s a pattern people around her have seen play out more than once. From what friends say, Ethan would have preferred the relationship continue, but Ariana has always followed her own instincts. When she’s ready to move on, she does.’

In the three years since she began filming Wicked, Grande had practically transformed herself into her on-screen character of Glinda the Good Witch. She took a brief hiatus from music, dyed her signature brunette hair blonde and swapped thigh-high boots for pink ball gowns on the red carpet.

But as the Wicked craze drew to a close last year with the release of the second movie, Wicked: For Good, it didn’t take long for Grande to unveil a new era in her career.

In August 2025, the singer surprised fans when she announced the Eternal Sunshine Tour, marking first concert tour since 2019’s Sweetener World Tour. The forty-date tour will see the singer performing several shows across California and the southern United States.

From there, Grande will travel to Brooklyn and Boston, followed by shows in Montreal, Canada, before concluding the North American leg in Chicago. Then it is across the pond for 10 shows at the O2 Arena in London.

The Eternal Sunshine Tour will support her 2024 studio album, Eternal Sunshine, as well as her newly announced record, Petal, which is due for release on July 31.

It is quite a demanding schedule for any pop star, let alone one who has sparked concern for her health and wellbeing of late. 

The Daily Mail previously reported that, during the Wicked press tour last year, Grande’s loved ones feared she was ‘not in a healthy place’ while promoting the film, as a family source admitted she was ‘struggling’.

Then in November, Grande was left shaken after a crazed fan ambushed her at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good. The frightening run-in only furthered concerns from friends and family about Grande’s escalating ‘anxiety’ levels and struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Grande has been open about her struggles with PTSD ever since the terrorist bombing at one of her concerts in Manchester back in 2017 which left 22 dead and over 1,000 injured.

Perhaps that is why the singer recently revealed on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast that her Eternal Sunshine Tour may be her last for a very long time.

‘For Ariana, the last few years have been incredibly demanding and there has been very little downtime,’ our source said.

‘The concern from people close to her is that she’s spent so much time taking care of everyone else that she hasn’t given herself the opportunity to slow down and recharge.’

Although the Eternal Sunshine Tour is more scaled back compared to her previous Sweetener Tour, which saw Grande perform 101 shows across North America and Europe, family and friends are still said to be concerned that Grande has ‘taken on too much’ by going on tour.

‘People who know her well and care deeply are anxious that she might have taken on too much,’ a second source told the Daily Mail.

‘The fact that she’s been involved with almost every aspect of the tour is a heavy task in itself. She’s a total perfectionist and everything has to go right, night after night.

‘That’s a huge ordeal she’s putting herself through for three months. The fact the tour could take its toll on her is definitely stressful.’

But it would appear that the Eternal Sunshine Tour has already taken a toll on Grande’s physical appearance, as photos and videos from opening night in Oakland showed the diminutive singer looking drastically thin and apparently low in energy.

On social media, fans were quick to express their concerns for Grande’s health.

‘I just can’t look at some of these pictures, it breaks my heart,’ wrote one observor. ‘Hope she finds the help she needs.’

‘I hope she’s taking care of herself throughout this tour,’ said another. ‘She put a lot on her plate.’

A third fan commented, ‘I worry that this tour will be too much for her overall health. She needs to put herself and her well-being before anything else including her fans. I hope she will be okay.’

This is not the first time Grande’s thinning frame has been a topic of conversation. In fact, the singer addressed criticism about her noticeable transformation during an interview in December 2024.

When asked how she handles comments about her appearance, Grande said, ‘I’ve been kind of doing this in front of the public and kind of been a specimen in a petri dish, really, since I was 16 or 17.’

The star also acknowledged that she’s tried to ‘protect’ herself from ‘the pressure of that noise’ since she was a teenager, but revealed that she doesn’t ‘invite it in anymore.’

Grande also scolded critics who feel comfortable ‘with commenting [on people’s bodies],’ which she called ‘really dangerous for all parties involved.’

Despite Grande’s insistence that she no longer listens to criticism about her appearance, our second source suggested the singer is fully aware ‘there’s already concern for her well-being’ a mere three days into her tour.

It is understood that Grande’s inner circle ‘are keeping an eye on things’ if the physical and emotional demands of the ongoing tour become too much for the star.

While they’re hopeful that Grande will adopt a ‘healthier overall lifestyle and routine’ once she’s settled into the rhythm of the tour, the first source said, the bigger concern is that Grande will push forward into her next project without giving herself time to rest after the tour wraps in September.

‘She wants to prove something to herself by doing the tour,’ the second insider said.

Ahead of the July release of Grande’s eighth studio album Petal, the singer dropped the first single, titled ‘hate that i made you love me,’ last month. 

While the song’s cheeky title may lead fans to believe the record will be about her breakup with Slater, a report from TMZ maintained that Grande’s forthcoming album is not inspired by the split or her relationship with Slater.

A third source told the Daily Mail that the former couple decided to break up ‘several months’ ago, though their split was ‘amicable’ and they are still ‘very supportive of one another.’

Following the Wicked finale in November, the co-stars maintained a low-profile and kept their public interactions to a minimum.

Slater notably supported Grande backstage at her hosting gig for Saturday Night Live in December last year. The pair also appeared to confirm they spent time together during the holiday season with respective posts shared to social media at the time.

In recent months, however, the former couple’s conflicting schedules appeared to keep them on opposite sides of the country. 

While Grande was busy ‘in Los Angeles doing tour rehearsals,’ a source previously told the Daily Mail, Slater was performing in the off-Broadway play Marcel on the Train from early February to late March.

On April 12, Slater attended the opening night for the Broadway comedy musical Titanique, which stars Grande’s older brother Frankie Grande.

While fans expected Slater and Grande to attend the opening night together, he arrived at the event solo. Grande finally made an appearance at Titanique three weeks later, without Slater by her side.

A fourth source shed insight into the former couple’s ‘passionate’ romance and ‘up-and-down’ dynamic.

‘The relationship has always been up-and-down, back-and-forth, ebb and flow. I think that’s just what happens when you get two very passionate people together,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.

Despite Grande’s reputation of jumping from one relationship to the next, however, the insider maintained that Grande ‘did not cheat’ on Slater.

‘They fight, they drift apart, they get back together, they make up. She did not cheat on him. That’s just not true. Whatever has happened in her past, she and Ethan talk through things, and there’s no bad blood there,’ the source said.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Grande and Slater for comment.