Ariana Grande‘s boyfriend Ethan Slater ‘feels helpless’ amid the growing fears for his Wicked costar, according to sources, who claim the Broadway actor is equally as ‘concerned.’
The pair have recently embarked on a a grueling press tour to promote their big-budget film adaptation of the popular musical, which finally landed in cinemas on November 22.
Fans have questioned the toll the project may have taken on Ariana, 31, with many expressing fears for her apparent weight loss.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, a source close to the film said they were confused as to why ‘everybody is so focused on this movie when Ariana clearly needs help.’
The source added: ‘Ethan is concerned for her but feels helpless.’
The thank u, next singer shocked fans on the red carpet this month in Los Angeles, with her ‘very fragile’ appearance.
Posing alongside her Wicked costars Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the singer looked noticeably slimmer.
‘I love Ariana and I don’t think people should comment on other people’s bodies at all, but there’s no way you can look at her and not think she’s not healthy,’ one person wrote on social media.
Another wrote: ‘Ariana looks very fragile and not in a good way.’
A third added: ‘I know she has been slim all her life but seeing her now is worrying, she is so small.’
Another wrote on X: ‘There’s been a lot of commentary and assumptions about Ariana Grande and her body/mental health recently. As an Ari supporter, all I can do is hope for her health and happiness.’
‘All speculations aside, I truly wish Ariana Grande good health and well being,’ said one worried fan. ‘No one is immune from the mental toll of going through a divorce and being in the spot light 24/7.’
A second source said people are too ‘scared’ to address her weight, but are also fearful of the impact it could have on young fans.
‘Ariana needs to consider the example she is setting for young girls and her fans,’ they said. ‘This is not okay.
‘Everyone is concerned about her but no one will ever say anything because everyone is scared of her. Cynthia has also lost weight and no one is talking about it. It is the pink elephant in the room.’
Experts have long warned that having a visible sternum and gaunter cheeks as an adult may be a sign of health conditions including malnourishment and lipoatrophy — the loss of fat tissue.
Dr. Dennis Schimpf, a plastic surgeon in South Carolina, told DailyMail.com that Ariana could be at risk of a protein deficiency which can cause muscles to waste away as a result of her vegan diet.
Ex-vegans posting online also say they see a reflection of their struggle in Ariana’s appearance, adding that her appearance looks like ‘end-stage veganism.’
Ariana has been a vegan for more than a decade, revealing the shift in her diet in 2013 because of her love for animals like dogs, goats and seahorses.
A fan on Reddit suggested that Ariana’s change in makeup was the reason her appearance seemed so altered.
‘She had to stop applying her tan for Glinda so I think her natural pale skin when we’re all so used to her bronzer makeup is also making her look weird,’ the user comments.
Others claimed that it could likely be down to the stress of filming and promoting the movie as one user wrote: ‘I’m normally not a big fan of assuming stuff about people, especially when it’s about looks, but I’m hoping that it’s just that the filming of that movie was really, really exhausting and took a toll on her and her co-star. Which would also explain the constant crying.’
Another added: ‘I’m going to go with crazed marketing schedule not helping. Jet lag and constant travel and promotional work is hard. Cynthia also has lost a lot of weight and neither of them had any excess weight to start with. They both look so exhausted.’
In an interview with the New York Times, both Ariana and Cynthia hinted at intensely pressured schedules on set, with both contracting Covid during filming.
‘We only got sick once each, but both were before some of the most important works of the whole movie — mine was the week before Popular,’ Ariana said.
‘I came to set with a mask on my final days of recovery to learn the hallway finale.’
When the actors’ strike forced production to a halt last summer, Cynthia also admitted she was ‘grateful’ as they had both ‘worked [themselves] to the bone.’
‘At first, it felt like an interruption, and then as it went on, it felt like the rest we needed’, she said. ‘We’d worked ourselves to the bone. I was really grateful.’
Last year, Ariana clapped back at body shamers and insisted that she was healthier than ever after pictures comparing her weight over the years went viral.
In a three-minute long TikTok video, she said people should be ‘gentler and less comfortable’ commenting on people’s bodies and appearances.
‘If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is — healthy or unhealthy, big or small, this or that, sexy or not sexy, we should really work towards not doing that as much,’ she said.
The Yes And? singer also claimed the version of her that people were comparing her to was the ‘unhealthiest version of her body.’
‘There are many different kinds of beautiful. There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful,’ she stated.
‘And personally for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body.’
She explained that she was ‘on a lot of anti-depressants’ and ‘drinking on them’ and also admitted that she was ‘eating poorly and at the lowest point of her life’ when she looked the way her fans considered her to be healthy.
‘I know I shouldn’t have to explain that, but I do feel like maybe having an openness or vulnerability, something good might come from it,’ she added. ‘Healthy can look different.’
Ariana has also faced intense scrutiny over her relationship with Ethan after they met in December 2022 on the UK set of Wicked, in which she plays Glinda — the good witch — alongside Ethan as munchkin Boq.
At the time, Ariana was still married to Dalton Gomez. She filed for divorce in September 2023 and listed the date of separation as February 20, 2023.
The singer announced her separation from Dalton just three days before confirming her new relationship with Ethan – immediately causing a flood of headlines.
Ethan was married to his high school sweetheart, Lilly Jay, when he started filming.
The actor, who welcomed his first child with Jay in 2022, then filed for divorce in July 2023 – five years after they tied the knot.
He cited irreconcilable differences and asked for joint custody of their son. The pair eventually finalized their divorce in September.
News of their romance caused uproar among Ariana’s followers and the pair kept their relationship largely out of the spotlight until recently while on the promotional tour for Wicked.
