Ariana Grande has been spotted hanging out with ex-boyfriend Ricky Alvarez in Austin, Texas, but sources are moving quickly to shut down any suggestion of a romantic rekindling.
Pictures circulating on social media showed Thank you U, Next singer smiling and chatting with her former backup dancer at a restaurant on Thursday, sparking immediate speculation.
Grande is currently in Austin for her Eternal sunshine trip, and a source told TMZ she was simply celebrating her 33rd birthday with friends.
There “is nothing romantic between Ariana and Ricky this time,” the source said. She was also seen taking pictures with fans during the outing.
Grande and Alvarez, both 33, were briefly romantically linked after he joined her Honeymoon trip in 2015.
They have remained friends since, and Grande referred to him warmly in her 2019 hit Thanks, nextsings “Wrote some songs about Ricky / Now I listen and laugh.”
The pair were also spotted spending time together in New York in 2019, leading to similar rumor mills, which Grande quickly shut down at the time via a since-deleted tweet declaring she was dating “nobody”.
The latest sighting comes just weeks after the news of her divorce Evil co-star Ethan Slater, 34, with whom she had been quietly breaking up for months before the story went public earlier this month.
“Ariana and Ethan broke up several months ago, but they’ve remained friends ever since and have nothing but respect and admiration for each other,” a source shared. Page six on June 8.
“This was not a decision they took lightly, but realized they were better off friends than in a committed relationship.”
Grande is by all accounts a good place.
The same source noted that she “felt really happy and focused on the next chapter with her Eternal sunshine tour and the upcoming release of her album Petal.”
A birthday dinner with old friends, however it appears on the internet, appears to be exactly that.
