Ariana Grande is getting rave reviews for her performance in Wicked, but there’s one aspect of the film she’s delighted by that has nothing to do with her own part in it.
Ari tells Entertainment Tonight that as a result of all the publicity surrounding the film, more people are becoming familiar with her boyfriend, Ethan Slater, who plays Boq. After Ethan was seen fixing Ariana’s train on the red carpet at one of the movie’s premieres, she was asked by Entertainment Tonight, “How adorable was that moment?”
“He’s always that adorable and he’s so amazing in this film. He’s such an amazing person,” she replied. “I’m so happy people are getting to know him. My heart is very happy.”
Meanwhile, Ari told ET that her father, Edward Butera, cried when she showed him the movie’s credits, where she’s billed under her birth name, Ariana Grande-Butera. She said she was able to give her dad an early peek at them thanks to director Jon M. Chu.
“He sent me the credits … he knew that people were going to start seeing it soon and he was scared someone was going to talk about it before [my dad] got to see it, and we surprised him,” Ariana said.
“I pulled it up on my laptop and I recorded him secretly,” she continued. “I told him I wanted to show him the typography of the credits because he’s a graphic designer, he loves that stuff. Anyway, it was a big surprise and he cried. It was very emotional.”
Ariana also reiterated why she chose to do that: “That was my name when I first saw Wicked. I do feel like this role and this project helped me sort of come home to little Ari.”
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