Love was lit, and now love is dead. Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson split on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018, sources told TMZ. After getting engaged just days after their first moments of PDA, the duo are dunzo, and it's reportedly hitting Davidson particularly hard. "Ariana made the final decision," a source told Entertainment Tonight, citing the "Break Free" singer's desire to "run away from the world just to get some peace and quiet and peace of mind." But the SNL star was apparently "still so in love with her" that "he wanted his whole world to revolve around her but she was emotionally unavailable." Ultimately, "[Davidson] had to give [Grande] that space out of love."
Was there more going on for these heavily tattooed, over-the-top lovebirds than just Grande's "it's not you, it's me excuse?" As it turns out… maybe. Here's what we think are the real reasons Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson broke up.
Sources close to Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson told TMZ that Grande, 25, realized she and Davidson, 24, had been moving too quickly in their relationship. The couple were first reported to be together in May and announced their engagement shortly thereafter. Grande reportedly didn't want to rush into a marriage anymore. A source concurred to People, "It was way too much too soon. [The breakup] isn't shocking to anyone." Other insiders speaking with Entertainment Tonight said that the couple's passion was fierce, but the flame couldn't survive.
"They got engaged because they both felt this instant connection and even now after their split they are still deeply in love," an insider told ET. "But their timing has truly affected their plans and made it impossible for them to make it work at the moment. … They have a very special connection, partly because Pete has been there for Ariana during a painful time in her life. She will forever and always be grateful to Pete."
Everyone who dates a comedian knows their relationship is probably going to end up being part of the stand-up act one way or another. Ariana Grande is no exception, and she was apparently cool with Pete Davidson cracking jokes about their whirlwind romance… until it was over. According to Cosmopolitan, she didn't mind when Davidson made an especially lewd reference on stage as to how aroused she made him — endlessly, in case you were wondering.
The same was apparently true when Davidson appeared on SNL's Weekend Update, joking about how he was so hopelessly unworthy of Grande's love that he sabotaged her birth control "just to make sure that she can't go anywhere." While Twitter didn't love that particular riff, Grande didn't have a noteworthy reaction. A few weeks later — and post split — Davidson jokingly proposed to SNL musical guest Maggie Rogers, and well … Grande wasn't thrilled.
According to TMZ, the "Dangerous Woman" singer tweeted then later deleted the following: "For somebody who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging to it huh. thank u. next." In fairness to Grande, there is a pretty big difference to being in on the joke, rather than serving as the punchline.
Sources told TMZ that the "breaking point" for Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson's relationship was the death of her ex, rapper Mac Miller. Miller passed away in September at age 26 of a suspected drug overdose. Grande was devastated by Miller's passing, and sources told TMZ that Miller's death made her take a pause to examine her relationship with Davidson and realize it isn't what she really wants right now. Insiders also told The Sun that Miller's death caused the couple to argue nonstop for weeks.
"Ariana dumped Pete. They'd been [fighting] for two weeks about Pete's lack of support after Mac's death," a source said. "She realized she needs a grown-up who can support her and that's not him. They secretly split a week ago and she's already moved out of the apartment." Radar Online additionally reported that after Miller's passing, Grande "realized Mac was the love of her life," and that she was also feeling pressure from her family, who allegedly "told her that Pete was no good for her."
Early into their engagement, Ariana Grande seemingly had no issue with the SNL star's alleged drug use, joking on a radio show (via Radar Online) that he's "always high." But that allegedly changed in August when Pete Davidson was pulled over and a friend in his vehicle was arrested for drug possession. A source told Radar Online that Grande's family was "terrified for her safety," particularly her brother Frankie Grande, who Ariana allegedly chastised for his own drug use.
The Sun also linked Davidson's drug use to the couple's split, citing his frank admissions on The Howard Stern Show. Davidson told the King Of All Media, "There was no way I could stop [smoking weed]. … I was sober for three months at one point and was like, 'This f***ing sucks. I don't want to feel like this.'" Davidson suffers from borderline personality disorder and Crohn's disease, the latter of which he says marijuana helps to alleviate. However, he also told the shock jock, "I also just love smoking weed."
Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande clearly weren't shy about their love, but in Davidson's case, his sounded more like lust — and given Grande's history, that may have bothered her. For example, he told Howard Stern (via Hollywood Life) that he pleasured himself to the idea of her before they met, and also bragged to Jimmy Fallon that random men congratulate him on getting a girl as hot as Grande.
While Grande also hasn't shied away from some relationship TMI, she previously rejected being reduced to a sex object when people made similar observations about her ex Mac Miller being with a woman of her caliber. In fact, after one such occasion, Grande wrote a mini-essay to vent her frustration. "This may not seem like a big deal to some of you but I feel sick and objectified … I am not a piece of meat that a man gets to utilize for his pleasure," she wrote (via Fuse), citing that Miller treated her "with love and respect. "It hurts my heart that so many young people are so comfortable enough using these phrases and objectifying women with such ease."
Fans and Internet trolls were so nasty about Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande's relationship that they drove him off of social media and even sent him death threats. Davidson vented to Howard Stern (via The Blast) in September 2017, "I got a death threat. Someone wanted to shoot me in the face because she's so hot. You know how insane that is? It's like, 'Am I that ugly that people wanna shoot me in the face?' They're like, 'No, f**k this guy.'"
It wasn't the first time Davidson was openly insecure about their aesthetic differences. He also told Variety in August 2018 of Grande, "I'm still convinced she's blind or hit her head really hard. Something is going to happen, and she's going to be like, 'What the f**k is this thing doing around?'" Davidson also took to the Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" desk to dish on his engagement to Grande, joking that he switched her birth control pills with Tic-Tacs to make sure she doesn't leave him — but that he knew she eventually would anyway.
Ariana Grande canceled a series of scheduled performances and isn't touring to support her most recent album, Sweetener. There are a combination of reasons for that, including lingering PTSD and anxiety stemming from the terrorist attack at her Manchester concert last year, as well as mourning the death of Mac Miller. However, when she bailed last minute at a scheduled performance over the weekend, Grande's manager, Scooter Braun, may have alluded to the split being the reason she didn't show.
"Someone I'm very close to was supposed to come sing for you today, and because of things that she's going through, she couldn't be here today," Braun said at a F**k Cancer benefit, according to E! News. "And while I was frustrated, being the manager, my wife, being who she always is, just looked at me and she goes, 'She needs this time.'" Perhaps realizing she was getting a reputation for skipping out on work obligations, Grande's first statement after the split was to announce she wouldn't miss her performance in a Wicked tribute.
Sources told Page Six that Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande actually split a week before the world found out about it, but kept the breakup mum with social media PDA — and Grande even cozied up to Davidson backstage at Saturday Night Live the day before their romance was announced as dunzo. "There was word they'd broken up," a source said, "[But at the time] they were Instagramming [Stories] together in bed, and she was backstage at SNL."
TMZ reported that the couple were still together, but severely on the rocks at the most recent SNL taping, with sources saying there was no big fight between the pair leading up to the split, but that "it was just time." Insiders said they'd desperately tried to fix their relationship in the weeks leading up to the breakup, but were just "going through the motions" before finally ripping off the band-aid and calling it quits.
All hope is not lost for "Grandson," as their fans so adoringly named them. A source told Us Weekly that the breakup is more of a break, noting, "The wedding is off, but they're working things out. They're not officially done yet."
An insider concurred to Entertainment Tonight, "They have not stopped talking since they made the decision to split and in fact, they plan on trying to stay close friends or maybe one day even more than that. They are remaining positive and looking forward to a future together where they may be best friends and still haven't ruled out the possibility of one day making their relationship work."
The timeline of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson's relationship may be murky, which could have lead to potential issues later on. Grande and Mac Miller, her boyfriend of two years, reportedly broke up in early May 2018, TMZ reported, though a source also told People that Miller and Grande actually split almost a month earlier. Davidson also ended a previous longterm relationship — with Cazzie David (daughter of Seinfeld creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David) — right around the same time, confirming their split in mid-May 2018.
In early June 2018, the jeweler from whom Davidson purchased Grande's engagement ring dished the dirt to E! News that Davidson came to him a month prior to get a rock, but wouldn't say "who it was for" and said "to keep it a secret." That indicates that Davidson was shopping for Grande's massive pear-shaped rock in early May when they were together for mere minutes … and that he and David may have still been together when he was looking at Grande-sized diamonds. (In fact, TMZ reports that Davidson and David were "on a break" when he and Grande first hooked up. Have these kids never watched Friends?)
Since Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson called off their engagement, things haven't gone too well for the comedian. He canceled two stand-up appearances "due to personal reasons" in the same month. But things may finally be on the up and up — for both Davidson and Grande. While the singer didn't seem thrilled with Davidson's SNL promo skit, in which he'd jokingly proposed to musical guest Maggie Rogers, she seemed to squash any beef between them when she released her new song, "Thank U, Next," a half hour before SNL's episode aired on Nov. 3, 2018. In the song, she sings about what she's learned from her ex-boyfriends. "Even almost got married," she sings, in part. "And for Pete I'm so thankful."
Davidson himself went on to address the status of their relationship during the show. "I know some of you are curious about the breakup, but the truth is — it's nobody's business, and sometimes things just don't work out, and that's okay," he said during a Weekend Update segment. "She's a wonderful, strong person, and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world."
On whether or not Davidson will continue to reference Grande on the show despite the previous backlash he faced, an insider told People that he's "unfazed" and the comedian "will always joke about his life, with or without her."