Ariana Grande's Brother Frankie on Ethan Slater: "Sweet Guy"

Frankie J Grande and Ariana Grande pose before Madonna performs onstage during her "Rebel Heart" tour at Madison Square Garden on September 16, 2015 in New York City

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 6 June 2024

Ariana Grande's brother Frankie Grande approves of her boyfriend Ethan Slater.

"I love him, he's a very sweet guy," the dancer said in a new interview with TooFab. "I've been a fan of him ever since seeing him in SpongeBob [the musical]. And I got to interview him when I was doing the SpongeBob SquarePants podcast. And the Broadway community is a tight-knit family."

But Frankie had even more praise for Slater. "He's a great guy. Ethan's a wonderful guy," he continued. "He's very sweet. He's very very very sweet. I just, I adore him. I, honestly I've always just said this, all I want is for my sister to be happy and when she's happy I’m happy. So I'm very happy."

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Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande pose for a selfie.

Ariana and Slater met on the set of the movie Wicked, while both were still married to their ex-partners. It's unclear when exactly they began dating, but their romance is thought to have blossomed months after Ariana and Dalton Gomez had separated.

As for Slater and his wife Lilly Jay, sources also claimed they were separated when he and Ariana got involved, though another source said Jay was "completely blindsided" by the news of Slater's new relationship. Because of a confusing timeline and because the SpongeBob actor and his wife had welcomed their first child just months earlier, the beginning of their relationship was mired in controversy.

Despite that rocky beginning, their relationship appears to be going strong, with the two reportedly having moved in together last fall.

As for Frankie, we already had an idea of his feelings towards Slater, since he reportedly went with Ariana, Slater, and some friends to Disneyland circa October. At the time, a source said, "All of her friends love him."

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.