Dalton Gomez Reportedly Wanted to Make Ariana Grande Marriage Work But She Had Moved On

Earlier this week, news broke of the split between Ariana Grande and her husband of two years, Dalton Gomez. There has been a lot of conjecture about what led to the break up, but a source is now telling People that the real estate agent ultimately wanted to continue working on their marriage, but the Wicked star had moved on.

“Dalton is very religious and was committed to making it work, but Ariana had moved on,” said the insider. Though they broke it off a few months ago, the former couple have allegedly been “quietly and lovingly working on their friendship.”

The other issue in their marriage was distance. The couple had been living together in Los Angeles, but Grande moved to London for an extended period of time to film her role as Glinda in Wicked.

“She was happy in Los Angeles for a couple of years. She wanted to make a life there with Dalton,” a second source said. “He is super focused on his career and needs to live in Los Angeles. It’s definitely been an issue for them.”

They added, “Dalton’s career is demanding and he can’t leave Los Angeles often. So when [Grande] started filming Wicked in England, they were in for a long-distance marriage…Ari has nothing but kind words to say about Dalton. During their marriage, he was her No. 1 fan.”

It’s been rumored that Grande is now dating her co-star, Ethan Slater, known primarily for his Broadway career and now cast at the character Boq, who is romantically involved with Elphaba’s sister Nessarose. Neither of them have confirmed their relationship. Slater is also recently separated from his partner of over a decade, Lilly Jay, who he married in 2018 and with whom he shares a baby boy.

Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.