Ariana Grande separates from husband Dalton Gomez after two years of marriage
The singer and the real estate agent have been estranged since January, and the couple’s divorce proceedings have begun
Ariana Grande and her husband, Dalton Gomez, are separating. The couple, who have been married for two years, has not yet made it official for the moment. It is possible that they will not make a statement about it at all, since they have always been very discreet about their relationship; in fact, there are hardly any images of them together. TMZ, People and Page Six, always well-informed about the world of celebrities, have confirmed the news.
On Sunday at Wimbledon, photographers were focused almost as much on the star-studded audience as they were on the court where Carlos Alcaraz played and won. The VIP stands were packed with famous faces, including Prince William and Princess Kate of Wales, King Felipe VI of Spain, Brad Pitt, Emma Watson, Nick Jonas, Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and a very blonde Ariana Grande (she dyed her hair for a role; she plays Glinda, a witch in Wicked, the forthcoming adaptation of the Broadway hit based on The Wizard of Oz). The singer and actress attended the tennis match without her husband. That alone was not unusual: they do not attend public events together and there aren’t any official photographs of them as a couple, beyond the few that she posted on Instagram. Sitting between actors Jonathan Bailey (her costar in Wicked, who is known for his role in Bridgerton) and Andrew Garfield (Spiderman), she was decked out in a tennis tournament cap and sunglasses. But among the many tattoos on her hands, Grande’s followers noticed that the singer wasn’t wearing any rings. That made them suspicious.
A day later, news of the pair’s separation has been confirmed. Close sources have told Page Six that the couple “came to the decision together,” and that they stopped living together in January. “They were having problems before January, but they want to remain best friends,” those sources say. Their divorce proceedings are under way. Grande, 30, has been filming Wicked in London for months (although now, the production has slowed down because of the actors’ strike). A few months ago, Gomez, 27, went to visit her to try to save their relationship. But it didn’t work, those who know the couple say. “They’ve been really good friends throughout the entire process, and their friends and families have been trying to protect them,” sources say. Grande has deleted her wedding photos from her Instagram profile, which has 377 million followers.
A close source told Entertainment Tonight that the couple has been “quietly and lovingly working on their friendship” for months. A different source added that “Ariana and Dalton’s friends have always been concerned by their whirlwind romance and felt their relationship would ultimately be short-lived. Their relationship has been rocky at different points, and they’ve had trouble making time for each other with scheduling issues.”
In early 2020, news broke that the couple was starting to date, and in December of the same year, Grande announced that she and Gomez were engaged. It was perfect timing, because her Netflix documentary, Excuse Me, I Love You, which told the story of her 2019 Sweetener World Tour, was being released then. Their secret wedding took place in May 2021; just 20 guests attended. The nuptials took place at the singer’s home in Montecito, California, about an hour away from Los Angeles. “They got married. It was tiny and intimate — less than 20 people. The room was so happy and full of love,” a rep for Grande told People magazine at the time. “The couple and both families couldn’t be happier,” he said. Dalton is a real estate agent and works for a company that sells luxury homes for one of the area’s best-known real estate companies; in fact, he helped Grande find her current residence. He is also friends with other well-known faces like Miley Cyrus. Apparently, he was not overwhelmed or impressed by Grande’s fame, but rather helped her keep her feet on the ground.
Grande was engaged before meeting Gomez. In mid-2018, she was betrothed to comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson. They had only been dating for a few weeks, and their relationship ended four months after announcing their engagement. At the time, she had just broken up with rapper Mac Miller, whom she had dated between September 2016 and May 2018. In September 2018, Miller died from an overdose; she often blamed herself for Miller’s death, despite her attempts to get him to quit alcohol and drugs and stay sober.
Grande is one of the last decade’s top pop stars, with a multitude of chart-topping songs and over 20 Guinness World Records. Born in Boca Raton, Florida, she began performing in theater and musicals at the age of eight. She rose to fame at the age of 16 as an actress thanks to her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon series Victorious. At the age of 20, she released the first of her six albums, Yours Truly, which was number one on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 138,000 copies in the first week. Last January, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time, alongside voices like Ella Fitzgerald, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Toni Braxton and Paul McCartney. Sadly, her name became even more famous when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at her concert in Manchester, England, in 2017, causing 22 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Weeks later, she convened a benefit concert in which Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Robbie Williams and Liam Gallagher, among others, performed and raised $23 million for the victims. A couple of years later, Queen Elizabeth II even offered her an award for her efforts, but she turned it down.
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