Ariana Grande is "not a girl's girl"
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a pop star faces a brutal accusation, a model becomes a model girlfriend again, and Jeremy Allen White goes on a walk.
Ariana Grande’s new boyfriend filed for divorce from his wife on Wednesday, so that’s progress. But the situation is still a mess. Sources are arguing in the tabloids about whether or not their relationship started as an affair (lol), and now the new boyfriend’s estranged wife is speaking out, accusing Grande of being the worst thing a pop star could possibly be: not a girl’s girl. Criminy.
To review: TMZ broke the news last week that Grande, 30, was dating her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, 31, in the wake of her split from her husband of two years, the L.A. real estate agent Dalton Gomez. The tricky bit is that Slater has been married to his high-school sweetheart Lilly Jay since 2018, and they also have an 11-month old son together. Sources connected to Grande and Slater have insisted that they were both separated from their respective spouses before starting their relationship, but sources connected to Jay say they were having an affair while filming Wicked in London for the past several months. Jay also basically says that. When Page Six called her for comment on the divorce filing yesterday, she did something surprising: She responded on the record!
“She’s the story really,” Jay said, referring to Grande. “Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage.”
Not a girl’s girl. Not a girl’s girl. Aaah! This is just like when Taylor Swift said there was a special place in hell for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Is Jay correct? That Grande is, in fact, not a girl’s girl? Well, according to the Daily Mail, probably. A source “close to the situation” told the tabloid that Grande was well aware Slater was married and spent time with Jay and the couple’s baby on set in London this spring while also, you know, dating him.
“Lilly hung out with Ethan and Ariana so many times,” the source said. “Ariana met their baby and even held him. They had dinners together in London, and Ariana told Lilly that she wanted to have a baby one day and that she couldn't wait to start a family.”
Whoops. My guess is that when Grande started a relationship with Slater, who is best known for starring in the Spongebob Squarepants musical on Broadway, she did not think she had to worry too much about what the tabloids would say. Slater is barely famous, and Jay is not really a public figure, either. She is best known for launching a campus sexual assault awareness program at the White House in 2014, when she was a student at Vassar.
But Jay is not going quietly: She also released a statement to the Daily Mail yesterday, insisting, “I am focused on rebuilding a life for our son. This is what I am trying to do and this is my only focus.”
Grande and Slater, who hopefully really like each other and are ready to see this relationship through two whole Wicked movies over the next two years, have yet to comment on the record about their relationship. But sources connected with the couple told Page Six this week that they have done nothing wrong, and that Jay is making a big deal out of innocent nothing.
“She’s telling Ethan and others that she only cares about protecting their child,” while “calling every news outlet to get this story out,” the source claimed. “She’s rightfully upset because her marriage fell apart, but Ariana and Ethan didn’t do anything wrong. Ethan is trying to take the high road and hopes he can resolve this situation for the sake of their child.”
I know we all hope that, too. And personally I hope this ends with a perfect Grande pop song called “Girl’s Girl.”
Speaking of girls, Irina Shayk has done it again. The preferred model girlfriend for powerful single men who need model girlfriends landed a new contract this week with none other than Tom Brady. Shayk, 37, and Brady, 45, got “caught” by the paparazzi in L.A. over the weekend, and the photos and video made their way to TMZ first thing Monday morning. According to TMZ, the retired quarterback picked the Russian model up from the Hotel Bel-Air on Friday night and drove her back to his house, where she spent the night. She left the next morning wearing the same clothes (!), Brady picked her up again later that day, and paps recorded him caressing her face at a red light.
Typically, Shayk is a bit more subtle when launching an A-list relationship. Her last go-around was with Kanye West in 2021: She simply walked through a field with him in Provence on his birthday to signal that the two were dating. Coincidentally, TMZ got those photos, too. Before West, Shayk spent several years on the arm of Bradley Cooper, bravely accompanying him through his failed Oscar campaign for A Star Is Born. And before Cooper, she was a regular plus-one for Cristiano Ronaldo.
So what’s up with Shayk and Brady? According to Us Weekly, the relationship is “new” and “very natural.”
“Tom and Irina have a very natural vibe,” a source told the tabloid. “They’re getting along great and their chemistry is already off the charts. It’s early, but they’re both happy and just going with the flow.”
Uh huh. TMZ reports that Brady and Shayk first connected at billionaire art scion Joe Nahmad’s multi-million dollar Sardinian wedding in June. That does seem to be the kind of place where one might make such an arrangement. Leonardo DiCaprio was there, too, and there were rumors that Shayk was canoodling with him, but it looks like Brady ultimately made the better offer.
Cooper, who shares four-year-old daughter Lea de Seine Shayk Cooper with Shayk, is reportedly “unbothered” by Shayk’s new relationship. TMZ claims, meanwhile, that Brady’s recent ex-wife Gisele Bündchen is “not happy at all” about it. I don’t know, something tells me this was well managed with all parties in advance. Congrats to the new couple!
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: This week, a makeup-free Hilary Duff showed off her toned legs in a tennis skirt while grocery shopping.
Finally, I will leave you with this photo of the recently divorced Jeremy Allen White working out in L.A.:
Have a great weekend!
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the descriptions of irina shayk are so perfect and spot on. for some reason i thought she had already dated leo but maybe not? the ariana drama is so messy. no matter which way they try to spin it... the math doesn’t add up that it isn’t an affair. really sad because realistically how long will this last?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvOl8A1sEH5/