All the Signs Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Were Heading for a Split

From canceled performances to tattoo cover-ups

By Lena Grossman Oct 15, 2018 12:05 AMTags
Ariana Grande, Pete DavidsonFrederick M. Brown/Getty Images; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson have broken up and ended their engagement, but there might have been some signs.

They began dating in May and were engaged not long after. They met back in 2016 when Grande hosted and performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and apparently "had the biggest crush in the world on him the whole time—like forever." From that day on, she knew she wanted to marry him. It turns out Davidson felt the same way. He told GQ in August, "The day I met her, I was like, 'Hey, I'll marry you tomorrow.'"

While the two of them lived in a $16 million New York City apartment together, there were some subtle indications about their relationship status as of late. Last week, Davidson covered up one of his Grande-related tattoos on his neck. He turned the "Dangerous Woman" mask into a heart, which sparked some speculation about their future.

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Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Split: Take a Look Back at Their Whirlwind Romance
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Grande has been remaining out of the spotlight recently, mostly to cope with her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller's death. Miller died on Sept. 7 at the age of 26 from an apparent overdose. Since then, she's been quieter on social media and refraining from public appearances. She and Davidson did not attend the 2018 Emmys together because she needed "time to heal." About a week after Miller's death, the "God Is a Woman" singer adopted a pet pig named Piggy Smalls. Davidson got a tattoo of the animal on his torso. In a tweet on Oct. 8, Grande clarified why she owns such an unconventional pet. "SHE'S AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PIG I NEED HER," she wrote.

She's had an extremely tough year, and echoed that in a tweet just a few weeks ago. She pleaded on Twitter, "can i pls have one okay day. just one. pls."

After thanking her fans for being "angels," she justified her tweet that worried some fans. "ur angels in my life. it's just been a tough month. i'm trying to get my work done and get back to normal and it's hard and i'm human and tired. sorry i let u in or worried u. i shouldn't have tweeted. i kno better," she wrote.

September was a tough month, from beginning to end. Other than some outings with friends and working on music, Grande has stayed away from performances and public appearances. At the very last minute, she dropped out of performing on the season 44 premiere of Saturday Night Live, the same show that her former fiancé performs on. She was replaced by Kanye West at the last minute. Producer Lorne Michaels said on a podcast, "We had Ariana drop out for emotional reasons two days ago."

She still supported Davidson before the season premiere and the week after (even making a subtle dig at Kanye), but stayed mum on social media from this week's taping.

On Oct. 13, the "Side to Side" artist was supposed to perform at the F--K Cancer gala where her manager, Scooter Braun gave a speech about his wife Yael Cohen Braun, who was being honored. The F--K Cancer performance would have been her first onstage act since Miller's death in September. So far, she is still slated to perform at the A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway concert on Oct. 29.

Another sign of their potential troubles was that the SNL cast member deleted his Instagram just before news of their split came out. Grande, too, has not posted photos of Davidson on Instagram over the past few days. 

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