Ariana Grande and Boyfriend Ethan Slater Celebrate Her 2025 Oscar Nomination: ‘I Cannot Stop Crying’

Ariana Grande is floating on air after scoring her first-ever Oscar nomination, and boyfriend Ethan Slater was quick to celebrate her supporting actress nod.

“Picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition,” she wrote via Instagram after nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards were announced on Thursday, January 23. “I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise. i’m humbled and deeply honored to be in such brilliant company and sharing this with tiny ari who sat and studied Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow just before the big, beautiful bubble entered. i’m so proud of you, tiny.”

Grande, 31, scored a Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination for her role as Glinda in Wicked. Joining her in the category are A Complete Unknown’s Monica Barbaro, The Brutalist’s Felicity Jones, Conclave’s Isabella Rossellini and Emilia Pérez’s Zoe Saldaña.

In addition to thanking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the recognition, Grande went on to shout out Wicked’s director, Jon M. Chu. “Thank you @jonmchu for taking this chance on me and for being the most unbelievably brilliant leader, human being, and most fierce friend. i am so deeply proud of my beautiful Wicked family,” she wrote.

Grande also thanked “my Elphie,” Cynthia Erivo, who was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. “Your brilliance is never ending [sic] and you deserve every flower (tulip) in every garden. i love you unconditionally, always,” she gushed. “I don’t quite have all my words yet, i’m still trying to breathe. but thank you. oh my goodness, thank you. Universal, Marc [Platt], my family, my heart. lemons and melons and pears, oh my.”

Grande’s reaction post featured photos of herself as Glinda, a childhood photo of herself dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and a throwback clip of her younger self performing Elphaba’s song “The Wizard and I.”

Slater, Grande’s boyfriend and costar, also took to Instagram to celebrate her Oscar nod, sharing a photo of Grande standing on a window sill holding pink balloons. He also shared several nomination announcement posts via his Instagram Story, one of which he captioned, “Oscar. Nominated. @arianagrande.”

Grande met Slater, who plays Boq, while filming the two-part movie musical adaptation in 2022. The two began dating following their 2023 splits from their former spouses Dalton Gomez and Lilly Jay.

Wicked earned a total of 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. The film is tied with The Brutalist for the second most nominations, following behind Emilia Pérez with 13.

Despite not snagging a nomination for Best Director, Chu, 45, shared his reaction to Wicked’s Oscar nods via his Instagram Story on Thursday. “When it’s 5:30 a.m. and your movie gets 10 Academy Award nominations 🥹,” he captioned a selfie with his hand over his mouth.

In a follow-up post, he added: “It’s way too early, I had way too much coffee. But also I was really happy for our movie. Couldn’t be more proud of our crew and cast and everyone in between who made this movie possible. The greatest adventure of creativity I have ever been a part of.”