Ariana Grande shocked fans when she secretly married real estate agent Dalton Gomez in 2021 after just a few months of dating. And two years later, the two shocked fans again with news of their separation.
First linked in March 2020 (they were spotted kissing at a bar), Grande and Gomez publicly confirmed their romance in May of that year with a joint appearance in the music video for her single with Justin Bieber, “Stuck With U.” (It was Grande’s first relationship since her well-publicized engagement to comedian Pete Davidson.)
By December 2020, Grande and Gomez were engaged, and in May 2021, they married. Rumors of a split emerged when Grande was seen attending a Wimbledon match in July 2023 without her wedding ring, and the rumors were later confirmed by sources for People and TMZ. They finalized their divorce in March 2024.
Below, see everything we know about the pop star’s ex-husband.
He started dating Ari in January 2020.
Although they were first spotted together in March 2020, Grande and Gomez began dating in January. “They have been hanging out for a couple of months,” a source told People at the time. “Ariana doesn’t want to do another public relationship, so she is trying to keep this one quiet, but she seems very happy with Dalton.”
The two also quarantined together throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, moving between Grande’s Los Angeles and New York homes, People reported. It was allegedly during this time that Grande realized Gomez was “very special.”
That summer, Grande moved in with Gomez in Los Angeles. “She purchased a house in the Hollywood Hills in June and never looked back,” another People source said at the time. “They are incredibly happy.”
He is a luxury real estate agent.
Unlike Grande’s previous partners, Gomez is not in the entertainment industry. He is director of the luxury estates division at the Aaron Kirman Group, a real estate firm based in L.A. Per his bio on the company’s website, Gomez has played “an instrumental role in steering [AKG] toward unparalleled success” and has been known for his “extensive knowledge in the fields of architecture and luxury estates.”
He met Ariana through work.
Gomez first crossed paths with Grande when he was scouted by her team to sell her a property from his company’s listings.
“Ariana was looking for a home outside of Los Angeles to be her getaway house, and her team found Dalton to help,” an insider told Us Weekly. “When she saw him, she immediately thought he was cute and very good-looking, and she asked her team to set up an in-person meeting with him. Ariana fell very hard for Dalton shortly after they met.”
By the time romance rumors had begun swirling in early 2020, fans had noted that Grande had followed both Gomez and his brother on Instagram. Fans also took note of the pair’s flirty online exchanges—one of which took place during an Instagram Live session Grande did in March, where Gomez was seen commenting, “This gurl cute.” Grande then responded aloud, “I feel blessed.”
While not a Hollywood star himself, Gomez’s job in luxury real estate has connected him with many celebrities over the years. Among them is Miley Cyrus—Grande’s longtime friend—whom Gomez referred to as one of his “hoodlums” in a 2017 Instagram Story featuring a photo of himself with the singer and several other people.
When they were together, Gomez tagged along as Grande’s plus-one at major star-studded events, including the 2020 Video Music Awards, where she put on a powerhouse performance of “Rain on Me” with Lady Gaga. In a carousel Grande later posted on Instagram, Gomez is seen in one photo holding hands with the singer backstage.
He had a cameo in one of Ari’s videos.
Grande officially confirmed her romance with Gomez in the quarantine music video she made with Justin Bieber for “Stuck With U.” Gomez makes an appearance with Grande toward the end of the video, where he is seen dancing alongside the singer and sharing a sweet embrace.
He proposed to Ariana with a special ring.
Gomez proposed to Grande in December 2020 with a very unique custom ring. The piece features an oval-cut diamond set diagonally against a pearl atop a gold band.
According to engagement ring jeweler Jack Solow, the real estate agent spent six weeks carefully selecting Grande’s perfect diamond.
“Dalton was involved in every step of the selection process through FaceTime and Zoom, since he was on the West Coast and I was here in my office in New York. He was very, very specific about what he wanted,” Solow told E! News. “He had very strong feelings about how he wanted this to look, a contemporary kind of way. It was his idea to do the diamond on an angle and he said to me we had to incorporate a pearl into the finished piece because it is very sentimentally special, the element of a pearl is very, very sentimentally special to Ariana. He wanted to include that in the ring.”
He married Ariana in a very intimate ceremony.
In line with their private, no-fuss romance, the pair tied the knot in a small, intimate wedding.
On May 17, 2021, People confirmed that Gomez and Grande had said “I do” in a “tiny” ceremony with fewer than 20 guests. Despite the smaller-than-average guest list, however, the occasion was reportedly incredibly special. “The room was so happy and full of love,” a source told the outlet. “The couple and both families couldn’t be happier.”
They quietly separated at the beginning of 2023.
In July 2023, TMZ reported that Grande and Gomez had gone their separate ways in January. Though the couple had allegedly attempted to reconcile “a few months back,” a source told the outlet the relationship was “heading for divorce.” The insider noted that Grande and Gomez have been thousands of miles apart since the Grammy winner had left for London to film Wicked in December, but said their relationship issues had started long before that.
Another source for People confirmed the couple’s separation, saying Grande and Gomez had been “quietly and lovingly working on their friendship.”
They finalized their divorce in March 2024.
Grande and Gomez’s divorce was finalized one year after their formal separation. The terms of their divorce agreement were settled in October 2023, but the divorce itself wasn’t final until March 19, 2024, when a required six months had passed before the judge’s order could go into effect.
Grande was required to make a one-time payment of $1.25 million to Gomez with no future alimony, and she will pay up to $25,000 toward his attorney fees, per the Associated Press. Gomez will also receive half the proceedings from the sale of their Los Angeles home.
Dalton is dating someone new.
Gomez and his new girlfriend, actor Maika Dillon Monroe, went Instagram official with their relationship in June 2024. Monroe posted a photo of herself hugging and kissing Gomez on the app, as well as a snap of the two cuddling close together on a boat. She kept her caption simple, simply using a single star emoji: “💫.”
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