Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande | 50

In this episode, we discuss mental health struggles and self-harm. Resources are available in our show notes.

All right, Sydney, let's think back to our early days. If you can recall back when we were just twenty year olds looking for love. I still am. Same Let's think back to right now. Okay. Have you ever moved too fast in a relationship? So fast that you look back and you're like I regret everything. Yes, but I'm not gonna put that on me because I think I'm very easy to become obsessed with.

Yeah, you are such a siren that it's only natural that a person who's dating you would want to move way too fast. I am a Pisces. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I Cannot judge. The women on The Bachelor. I cannot judge people on dating reality shows where they go on one date and they're like,

He's the one. Cause I have the same level of delusion. Right. Today the few that we're following is a couple who definitely moved way too fast. That's my editorializing, but I think most people would agree. Okay, so we're gonna imagine it's October 2018. You, Sydney, are probably just a sweet pre-pandemic child.

Assuming you're an Arianator also. I mean, I saw Ariana for the first time when she was on Broadway in thirteen the musical. Wow. And she actually was dating a boy in the cast who I had a crush on. So Started off a little rocky, but now yeah, I'm a fan. Okay. Well, for everybody who doesn't know, Arianator is the name of an Ariana Grande fan. Horrible name. I did not know that.

That's what they're called? I guess so. I mean they probably have a range of names, but yeah. Starting off any type of large group with Arian is not the best idea. Oh no. No. Anyway. It's October 2018, you of course are an Aryanator, you've probably been following for months as Ariana and Pete Davidson, the comedian, fall deeper and deeper in love with one another. But then your tiny alienator world comes crashing down. The unthinkable happens.

Because a TMZ article pops up on your iPhone XS. And the headline is Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson splitsville. Engagement off. Okay, so in the world of Ariana fans, Arianeators, does this sort of have the same effect As that scene from Spongebob where he's burning all the files and the room is on fire. Yeah, this is their apocalypse. The world has ended because their couple has fallen apart. Even though he was literally

talking about how much he loved her on SNL. So it doesn't make a lot of sense to people at the time. This started as a whirlwind romance. It quickly became this public feud. Both of them took swipes at one another via their respective art forms. So now it's on us, a little over five years later, to make sense of it. Because who else will, if not us? The experts on feuds. Wow, how brave of us. Wondery, I'm Matt Belisai. And I'm Sydney Battle. And this is Dis and Tell.

So by the time Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande get together in 2018, basically where the majority of our story takes place, because it's a short-lived romance that took place over the course of a handful of months. Right. When it first started, they're still pretty young. They both are very successful. We'll see kind of like how it works. Yeah. Them trying to have a normal relationship with one another. Obviously, their age and the scale of their success affects the relationship.

But also, it affects the breakup once things finally end. Ariana's fan base piles on, things get pretty explosive pretty quickly. Oh. And the interesting thing about this feud is But we'll see how we're going to do that. See how each of them use their respective art forms to process things. For Ariana, it's putting her thoughts into music. For Pete, it's processing things and putting his feelings into his comedy. Right.

The only problem with this is that by making themselves feel better, they make the others feel a lot worse and things just spiral from there. Oh god. This is Ariana Grande and Pete De. All right, so Ariana Grande, obviously huge pop star. Most people know her name. But just to give you a little background, Ariana got her start on Broadway in 2008 in the show 13, which you were seated for. Thank you. Yes, I was.

Second to last performance. Oh wow. So she starts as a Broadway star. She has a stint in some Nickelodeon. Show. Sub Nickelodeon Show. Yeah? Sub Nickelodeon Show. Victorious? Don't say victorious like I, a thirty something year old man, should know what that show is. Never saw a frame of it. Ugh, this is tragic. I'm very comfortable having that blind spot. But yeah, by 2013, she has broken into the music industry. She's number 10 on the billboard charts. Her song The Way, which

She did with her eventual boyfriend, the rapper Mac Miller. Great song, A Bop. And then she got her first number one album on the Billboard charts that same year with the album Yours Truly. Mm-hmm. And things. Things really just took off from there. I mean, she was a certified pop diva, pretty much a household name. By twenty eighteen, just twenty-four at that time, she was dating and in love.

with Mac Miller. But eventually she broke up with him. She says that she was frustrated by his inability to stay sober. Sydney, can you read what Ariana had to say about the relationship and the breakup? I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be. I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety and prayed for his balance for years. End quote.

I mean, yeah, it's hard to have a partner who's going through addiction. One of the rules of like NA or AA is no dating or no new relationships. for a year. So I mean, that just tells me that navigating relationships while Trying to get sober is extremely difficult. Yeah, and it definitely does seem extremely difficult. And meanwhile, Pete Davidson's success has also sort of been tinged with tragedy. I mean, this is sort of an overly reported fact at this point, but

Pete's dad died in nine eleven when Pete was only seven. He's been really open about his mental health struggles. He's bipolar. He has borderline personality disorder. He has both. Well, technically in his own words. He says that he's somewhere in between the two. I can't imagine dealing with both kinds of

of BPD. Yeah, it seems like a difficult combo, but he's been sort of open and candid about the fact that he deals with both. Wow. But of course, you know, Pete Davidson has this very kind of goofy nature and That leads him to being cast on SNL in 2014. And he was one of the youngest ever to join the cast. He was 20 years old. Very impressive.

So yeah, he's gone through a lot of his own stuff. She's gone through her stuff. Then, according to Pete, they meet in 2014 when Ariana is first on SNL, but they didn't really get close until She appears again on SNL in twenty sixtin. Here she is talking about it on ABC News. I just thought he was so cute. And the only thing we said to each other is just like, hi. And the three just like worked together. I was like, I'm gonna marry that man.

I'll just say this. I'm glad that she's in her natural speaking voice again now. The acrobatics that she does with her voice is the reason that she is Ariana Grande, but also I get whiplash every time I hear her speak. I think it took her a minute to settle into herself and I'm gonna give her the benefit of the doubt because she was technically a child star. You might have

had to wrestle with your identity for a little bit. Right. Okay, so let's go to 2018. Pete, Nor Ariana. They haven't really seen much of each other lately. Pete runs into get ready scooter braun jump scare former feudster Taylor Swift's nemesis. And Ariana's manager at the time. And Scooter says that Ariana wants to hang out with Pete. This is so middle school. So much of Hollywood is like high school, middle school dynamics of like my friend thinks you're cute.

Yeah, Scooter hands him a note that says Do you think she's cute? Check yes or no. And Pete balls it up and throws it at his forehead. His shiny Botox forehead. So yeah, Scooter literally sends Pete off to a get-together at Ariana's apartment in New York. And he goes, hangs out with her and her friends. They play Quiplash and he sticks around after all of her friends leave.

And he says that he made a move. That's in air quotes. You know that was just him being like, Sutty and a kiss? Yeah. I don't know if guys from Staten Island have subtlety. True.

This is all happening around May 2018 and Pete later claims that he sent Ariana pictures of engagement rings like a day after that hangout. The one that they eventually got is reportedly a$93,000 ring. Jesus. I mean, that's a lot of SNL paychecks. Yeah. And Pete announces their relationship with this corny Instagram post. He makes it Instagram official. I'll show you a picture of it. They are both wearing Harry Potter robes.

No. Right? Like this is not long enough ago for this to be acceptable. Not just that, he's wearing a Gryffindor sweatshirt and I'm fairly certain. She's wearing a Slytherin sweatshirt. Oh my god. Yeah. His caption is the chamber of secrets has been opened. And then she comments, you trying to slither in. I'm just gonna say the thing I remember most about their relationship is that they were just acting up on Instagram all the time. Like he would be in her comments

saying the dirtiest shit. They were just acting up in public. It feels very like Guy letting his exes know, hey, I'm with Ariana Grande. It was fairly performative. Pete goes on the tonight show to announce the engagement. Here is a clip of that. Now you know that you didn't have to get engaged to Ariana Grande to come on our show. We but I did though. Thank you. Thanks. You know we we love her so much. I feel like I won a contest. So sick. Wait, this is a month into dating? Yeah. Oh goodness.

Yeah, so just to recap, Pete posted that photo announcing their relationship May 2018, and then he confirms their engagement on the Tonight Show June 2018. They didn't waste any time. She's a cancer. He is a man with borderline who falls in love very quickly. This was like the perfect recipe for a one-month courtship to engagement. Yeah. Then August 2018, so only a couple months after that, they move into an apartment that reportedly cost$16 million. I bet it was what? A thousand square feet?

Two bedrooms in Manhattan. Yeah, they moved into a stunning fourth floor studio walk-up. In Tribeca. Yes. And Pete says: the wedding is definitely gonna happen for sure. Wow, yeah. That would make me believe it. Oh yeah, it's happening for sure. See, when I deliver that sentence. It sounds like someone being sarcastic. When you hear it in like a Pete Davidson delivery, it's just like, of course that's how he would say that they're definitely getting married.

So yeah, then they take the next step in a relationship which is getting lots of tattoos and posting all the time about how they love each other. We have a couple pictures of their tattoo situations. In this one photo, they're showing both of their hands, and along their thumbs, it says H2G K-M-O. Honest to God, knock me out, which I guess is something Ariana likes to say. Okay, sure. Then we have the

That Pete gets Oh, of her dangerous woman mask. Yeah, the rabbit mask. He gets it behind his ear. I do wonder why he chose To get a symbol from one of her albums. Right. This is the type of tattoo that like a fan would get. Yeah, like I would have expected maybe the first letter of her signature or something. Like something really personal and Maybe they did some freaky stuff. with that mask and it it has a special type of meaning to the both of them. I'd believe it.

So yeah, things are moving along pretty hot and heavy, fast and loose. Then they make perhaps the most romantic gesture of all. They buy a pig together named Piggy Smalls. I forgot about the pig. Absolutely crazy to buy a pig in New York City because as everyone knows by now, there is no such thing as a teacup pig. It's just a baby pig that will grow to be a full sized creature. Yeah. Especially in their tiny sixteen million dollar apartment. Like where are you gonna put a pig?

That's wild. After that, she releases a song called Pete Davidson. I remember. Here's some of that. Yeah. Better place all the time. Oh my god. Okay. I do remember when she was asked to about this song. She was like, yeah, I just named it Pete Davidson because I figured people were going to be asking me, who is it about? Is it about him? And she was like, I just want to get it out of the way and confirm it. This is about him. Yeah, that says a lot about this.

relationship and the way that she talks about this relationship. There's no subtlety to it. She is not disguising her art behind any type of subtext. It's just yeah, this song's about Pete. Yeah, she just threw it out there. The song is only about a minute long. Ooh. Which That's a great point. Short, quick, perhaps prophetic.

Because like a lot of romances that burn so bright and so fast. This one was destined to burn out just as quickly. It was sort of prompted by a tragedy. So four months after Ariana and Pete get together, her ex, Mac Miller, dies of a drug overdose. And this apparently really puts everything into perspective for Ariana. Vanity Fair reports In the aftermath of Max's death, our sources say Ariana realized a couple of things.

She couldn't be fully invested in her relationship with Pete, and she had rushed into a looming marriage way too fast by getting engaged. I mean, yeah, that doesn't surprise me. That grief was probably so heavy. She's probably afraid of repeating the past by being with someone who might not be in control of their

afflictions. So I'm not surprised that it shook her up. It defined Pete and I am watching her grieve this person that she knew for years, the love of her life. I would be feeling ill equipped. I would understand if Pete was also like, I don't know what to do. Yeah, it's around this time that it things kind of fall apart for them by October

Pete has noticeably covered up at least one of his Ariana tattoos. And then on October 14th, TMZ and people drop that bombshell announcement saying that the couple split. and that the decision was mutual. But As amicable as they make it seem, it really is about to boil over into some pretty public drama and some really bitter artistic expression.

from the both of them. I do love when two artists date.'Cause we really do get to kind of reap the benefits afterwards. You get some very colorful back and forth. Hello, I'm Matt Ford. And I'm Alice Levine. And we're the hosts of British Scandal. Now, Britain loves a royal scandal. Abdications, affairs. But this series is about the first time. Raised in palaces bound by tragedy, suppose So how did they end up?

Was it jealousy, the press, the firm? Or was this royal rift always inevitable? This is the story of Harry and Will. scandal that split the House of Windsor. Follow British Scandal wherever you get your point. Early and ad-free on Audible.

All right, Sydney. So we went through this whirlwind romance and engagement that lasted about five months between Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande. They've called it quit. And they say it's mutual, they say it's amicable, but they're not gonna be keeping their emotions in check. For very long. On November 1st, 2018, just a few weeks after the breakup, Pete. Is doing this SNL promo with Jonah Hill and Maggie Rogers, and he makes this offhand joke.

Hmm, here's a clip. Hi, I'm Jonah Hill and I'm hosting Saturday Night Live this week with musical guest Maggie Rogers. Hey Maggie, I'm Pete. Hey Pete. You wanna get married? No. Oh for three. Oh, for three. It was the third. That's Cazzy David, his girlfriend before Ariana. Well, it's kind of like a light. joke and I feel like that's within the bounds. It's nothing too crazy. Right. I'd say it's pretty harmless and any harm meant is towards himself. But Ariana apparently does not like it.

Maybe it just catches her in a bad moment because hours later she tweets For somebody who claims to hate relevancy, you sure love clinging to it, huh? Thank you, next. Okay. So at this moment, Thank You Next as a song had not been released. No, not yet. But it will be two days later. Okay. So at first I was wondering if this was like a way for her to sort of Soft launch that song? Yeah, that's the question. But the first part of that tweet is Rather cutting. Right.

And I think it's hard to deny that his relationship with Ariana did completely change how he was seen as a celebrity. Mm-hmm. Even if he thinks he hates it. I don't think he hates every part of it because he's sort of become the go-to guy in Hollywood now for a PR romance. Yeah. To be fair, Ariana later deleted that tweet, but like, what good has that ever done to any of our feudsters? Once you tweet it, you can't untweet.

Yeah, when it's twatted, it's out there. And yeah, I think the question around that tweet and that response is was it genuine? Was it a stunt? Because literally two days later, she releases the one, the only, the crown jewel of Ariana songs. Thank you, next. And I guess we can put on our conspiracy hats and say, like, maybe she was just. Looking for a reason to tweet that out ahead of the song. I mean, could she have just tweeted the words thank you next?

Right. She could have and people would have still taken it and ran with it. So I think it's a mix. I think she was like, This could be a little shout out to my song and also I wanna kinda clap back. Yeah.

Okay, so let's talk about the song'cause she released it as a single and it's huge. It's has the biggest music video debut in YouTube history up to that point. 55 million views in 24 hours. Wow. It's number one on the Billboard chart for seven weeks. Huge hit. And it's not just about Pete. It's also about several of her past relationships. But she does reference Pete directly. Let's just listen.

I mean, yeah, that is a good point. It's not just about Pete. It is about all of the romances that we know. She did not mention the Broadway boy that she theoretically took from me. My condolences. Yeah, I mean it's it's a bunch of her guys that she's known for dating. Yeah. If I remember in the music video, she writes huge under his picture in giant letters. Yeah, she's doing like a mean girl burn book thing and on Pete's page it says huge. Yeah, which I bet she was like, he'll love this.

Yeah. It kicks off the whole kind of BDE thing. Oh God, it did. You're right. She also referenced it in a tweet. I think it was in response to her tweeting out the track list. How long is Pete Davidson? And she replied, ten inches. No, no. And then like JK just over a minute. But yeah, I mean, thank you next. Kind of a mix.

message which makes her tweet all the more confusing because it is a diss, but also she's thanking him in the song. It's like you're grateful, but also like you're looking for their replacement.

Confusing to say the least. Well, that's a cancer for you. Obviously, Pete probably doesn't feel great about this. Probably has some mixed feelings. Mixed feelings on both sides, of course. Arianators though, many of them immediately form negative opinions around the breakup. Not surprisingly.

Online death threats. Yep, not surprised. Naturally, you break up with a pop star. You gotta expect a few people on the internet are gonna tell you to die. You mutually break up with a pop star, and everyone outside of Ariana's fans. At least from where I was sitting, like, it seemed like everyone kind of understood that it probably wasn't Pete. It was that she was going through a lot. Right. And so

That makes it even worse when you're like, I know I didn't do anything to her. Right. And she's not claiming that you're doing anything besides this vague reference to you wanting relevancy. Yeah. And like there's a big difference between you saying one joke in an SNL promo that everyone's gonna forget in a few weeks, and her releasing a song that we'll probably still be playing after the world melts. Yeah. So yeah, he does get a lot of hate.

online, he did tell Howard Stern that someone wanted to shoot him in the face. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean this is like a very clear example of how This scales are really kind of tips. Against him, even though he was becoming an even bigger celebrity as a result of this. Yeah. She is still a massive pop star with a huge rabid fan base. Yeah. And Pete Davidson doesn't have shooters like

His fans are just kinda like, Hey, knock it off. Right. No, he jokes about in his stand-up special how like even his friends were like You gotta hand it to Ariana. This is a good song. Yeah, it's catchy. We have a clip of that. And then that song came out, my friends were like, Bro, I love you, I love you, right? Shit is catchy. Shit, it's very catchy. You're gonna have a rough eight months. I'm sorry, man. I actually happen to like the song. I'm sorry.

Wow. But yeah, obviously, you know, this is affecting his personal life. He's trying to be a good sport about it, but it's weighing on him. And you know, since he's someone who still exists in the public eye, it's not like he can just kind of slink away and lick his wounds in private. He's still doing his thing in public and is still under scrutiny. And

And because he also does have that history of mental illness and addiction, it just adds to that burden. And he ends up making this post on Instagram, if you'll read it for us. I've spoken about BPD and being suicidal publicly, only in the hopes that it will help bring awareness and help kids like myself who don't want to be on this earth.

I just want you guys to know, no matter how hard the internet or anyone tries to make me kill myself, I won't. I'm upset I even have to say this. To all those holding me down and seeing this for what it is, I see you and I love you. Okay, so even through this, he's continuing to be very open about where he's at. And I wonder if part of that is because he also wants To have some feeling of accountability to his fans. Yeah. I also think there's a genuine plea here to like.

Thank the people who are standing by him and remind everybody else this is tough. Yeah. This is not a normal situation. Exactly. It is a nice way of saying chill out. But yeah, on the other hand, Ariana has a right to make the music that she wants to make and to sing about how she feels and She can't always control how her fans are going to react and how the media is going to react.

complicated. And of course anybody in Pete's position is going to feel a little bit of resentment. It's probably hard not to. Any breakup you're gonna feel resentment. And it's about to get even weirder when a new Even more volatile party enters the mix. Who? Who are we talking about? Okay, this is gonna sound like a little bit of a wild detour, but stay with me, it makes sense. So Ariana is

Promoting her song Imagine on Twitter. Around this time, Kanye and Drake are having a feud. Oh God. What they're feuding about, it doesn't even matter. It's just that they are beefing with one another on Twitter. Two losers yelling at each other. Your words, not mine. I say it with my whole chest. So yeah, that was sort of like the main

thing happening on Twitter that night. Ariana jumps on Twitter and just kind of tangentially mentions the feud while she's promoting her song. If you'll read the tweet. I know there are grown men arguing online right now, but Miley and I are dropping our beautiful new songs tonight. So if y'all could please just behave for just like a few hours so the girls can shine, that'd be so sick. Thank you.

I mean, unnecessarily putting herself in it. Very funny. Well, I mean, she could very easily have just tweeted, hey, listen to my new song. She didn't have to reference the beef. stuff going on, but as far as references go, pretty mild. Pretty mild and also kind of funny. Do I think it could have been done just as well with her choosing not to invoke them?

Sure. But you know what? I think she knows how to navigate PR, even if she makes questionable decisions. I think she knows what's gonna get attention. Yeah, I mean it definitely turned this into more of a thing. And that probably benefited her because yeah, pretty quickly Kanye responds to Ariana. If you can even call it a response, since it wasn't even directed at him in the first place. This is what Kanye responded, if you'll read it.

I know Ariana said this to be cool and didn't mean no harm, but I don't like even the slightest level of slight commentary from someone I know loves and respects me. All of this foolishness weighed on my mental health. So at Ariana Grande, you know I got love for you, but until you're ready to really make sure everyone's okay, don't use me or this moment to promote a song. I think that's a shockingly contained response from Kanye. Fair enough.

I was shocked at how diplomatic it was. He was basically just like look, I know you're trying to be funny. But I'm actually going through something right now. So you need to back up. And not use me for your publicity. Right. There's a low bar for him. Yeah. He did reference in one of those tweets that he had been recently diagnosed as bipolar. But yeah, that was in the midst of a whole other thing. That was not the focus of what that feud was.

And also it wasn't like Ariana was like, I know someone is announcing that they're bipolar right now.

But listen to my song. The question is, what the hell does this have to do with Pete Davidson? Well, he wasn't involved at all at first, but he turns it into even more of a mess. Out of nowhere, he posts on Instagram, getting into the drama, this statement, if you'll read it. Bravo, Kanye West, for standing up for yourself and speaking out against mental health.

I can't explain to you enough how difficult and scary it is to be honest about stuff like this. We need people like Kanye. No one should ever point fingers at you for your bravery in speaking about mental health. I'm seriously disgusted. Okay, and now it's cranked up to an eleven. Kanye had a very contained, calm response. And meanwhile, Pete's How dare you! Yeah. Pete jumps in like, I can't believe you just slapped Kanye in the face, actually, and this is an offense to me and men everywhere.

It does seem like he was jumping in about the Ariana thing. He was sort of getting his lick in. I also just think the statement, thank you for speaking out against mental health is Objectively hilarious. He really probably should have done a proofread to just realize he was saying the opposite of what he meant. But I think the line I'm seriously disgusted is probably the strongest language that we've heard yet.

in this feud and pretty soon this is going to lead to a possible in-person confrontation between the two of them on the steps of Rockefeller Plaza.

Okay, Sydney, so we've got this combo music, comedy, romance view that is getting darker and darker. Ariana Grande, Pete Davidson, they're Tiff on Instagram. This exchange that involved Kanye, it's getting weird. Pete is coming dangerously close to a meltdown. And after his last Instagram post where he implied that he was disgusted with Ariana Grande, he posts again. And this time it has a message that implies some level of depression.

And this is the moment where it gets a little grim. He posts I really don't want to be on this earth anymore. I'm doing my best to stay here for you, but I actually don't know how much longer I can last.

I remember seeing this post. Yeah. I mean it was very scary for everybody who saw it. Unclear whether that I'm doing this for you, if that is just kind of the general audience. I would guess that he's referencing The people he talked about the first time, you know, like the kids that he wants to be a model for, or other people with

Mental illness who struggle with suicidal ideation. Right. And like that other post, there is this element of being sort of like radically honest about what he's going through, but this one feels a little more urgent. And even though it's not a little bit more than a little bit. months since the breakup?

When Ariana saw this message, she immediately headed to 30 Rock, where SNL is filmed, and where Pete was about to go on camera, because it was a show day. She clearly still felt very strongly and protected. He allegedly refuses to see her. If I'm thinking about it now, it's nice that she went there. It's a kind gesture, but do I think She's one of the people he would want to see. I'm thinking no. It is really interesting that he was just flat out like no to Ariana.

Hey, he knew his boundaries and was Sticking to them. It's very public. I just can't imagine that doorman being like, I'm sorry, Miss Grande, but you're gonna have to leave. That would sting. Well, yeah. I mean, if this leaves her feeling embarrassed, it may have her feeling like She wants to embarrass him a little bit. Spite is very powerful.

Several months later, Ariana does a cover shoot and an interview for Vogue. And in this interview, she gives a statement on her relationship with Pete that some interpret as a little bit dismissive. If you'll read it for us. And then I met Pete, and it was an amazing distraction. It was frivolous and fun and insane and highly unrealistic, and I loved him. And I didn't know him. I'm like an infant when it comes to real life.

and this old soul been around the block a million times artist. I still don't trust myself with the life stuff. Wow, a lot to unpack there. That confused me at first. But what she's saying is, you know, as a musician, she is an old soul, but in personal life stuff She is saying, I'm an infant and I don't trust myself. And it's like, girl, you're really not, though. It would be one thing if because of how she

started her career at such a young age. Maybe she didn't have romance until later in her life, or maybe she was like stunted a bit. But it's like, girl, you've had many relationships. And so at this point I do feel like You're not an infant so much as someone who's willing to get caught up in the romance of it all and forget about the real life implications. Yeah, I think she's giving herself a little bit too much of an excuse.

But yeah, I think for the feud part of this, calling him a distraction, a man that you were engaged to and got tattoos with and bought an apartment and a pig with, and saying it was frivolous and funny. Probably if I'm Pete, I'm not feeling great about that statement. No, I'd feel some kind of way. And he actually references all of this in his Netflix special Pete Davidson Alive from New York.

Which is that like a suicide joke in the title? I think. It seems like it. Yeah, let's flash forward to twenty twenty. He releases his Netflix special. Remember, right before Pete Davidson released his special, there was this moment in a Vogue interview where Ariana Grande called their relationship an amazing distraction. So that's what he's referencing at the top of this clip. Can you imagine if I did that? Can you imagine if I did that? My career would be over tomorrow.

If I spray painted myself brown and hopped on the cover of Vogue magazine, Yeah. Dare I say he got her a little bit. The worst part of dating a comedian is that they will be able to properly roast you afterwards. Yeah. I think the underlying point is she almost gave him an excuse to be able to joke about them publicly because she talked about it publicly. Yeah, she kind of did it in the biggest way possible and he's reminding us that their arsenals are very different sizes.

Like she has a bazooka and he's like, Okay, I think it's fine if I take my little revolver and I fire a shot into the air. Speaking of small revolvers, he does make a joke about his penis. And how she always joked about him having a big one. I don't know if she was joking, but I do know that everyone was like, Oh, the tiniest person in the world thinks that he has a big dick. Like He has a bit in the special about how like

He doesn't think his dick is that big and how that is the most clever insult that she could have put on him. Cause she's setting him up so that every woman he meets afterwards now will be disappointed. Oh. So yeah, we can see how both of them have gotten pretty defensive at this point. Both are kind of trying to take ownership of the narrative in their own way. Pete, rightfully mad that she was publicly talking about him in the song.

Song and in Vogue and on Twitter. That being said, he did put Aryana through a lot when he jumped in on the Kanye feud and then the self-harm thing was probably taxing on her. Ultimately Pete seems to have moved on the most successfully in the last few years. Cause you know what they say, the best revenge is dating a bunch of other famous beautiful women. Dating, sure. I'm putting dating in quotes.

Over everything, this relationship just sort of changed his currency in Hollywood a lot. It's now like the easiest way to pop onto the radar. Oh, you're dating Pete Davidson for a month? Cool. Right. I feel kinda bad for him because now it's like all these women in Hollywood sort of use him as this way station. Right. Since dating Ariana, whether you believe it or not, Pete has dated Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qually, Kaya Gerber, Kim Kardashian, Chase who wonders.

He also dated that girl from Bridgerton, Phoebe Denver. Right. And I think that was a real relationship. So I'm not saying they're all PR. Right. Legally we can't say any of them are PR. Right. And also they all haven't been the most Symbiotic, I guess. Obviously his Relationship with Kim Kardashian brought him into conflict with his former bro Kanye. Yeah, he met a very different Kanye.

This time around. Ariana, on the other hand, kind of had another wild rebound relationship. And this time she went all the way and got married and then divorced to the real estate agent Dalton Gomez. Their relationship lasted from 2020 to 2023. But that's quarantine. Who among us didn't go through some wild stuff in quarantine? Also, she called it a situation ship.

On her new album. Can we talk about that? She called her marriage a situation shift. So that it probably exonerates Pete a little bit even more is the fact that That she refers to a full blown marriage with the same sort of flippancy as she referred to their relationship. If anything, it's flattering to be called a distraction.

For like what, four months when she calls her husband a situation chip. Yeah, after that relationship, she started dating her wicked co-star Ethan Slater, formerly SpongeBob on Broadway, and That's a whole story that we don't have time to get into. But yeah, that's our feud between Pete and Ariana. I think one of the interesting things here is that a lot of times if you get a celebrity breakup where they're both. artists in some way. We don't see a lot of pop star comedian relationships.

Where you get stand-up on one side and pop songs on the other. Because usually a comedian is not gonna pull a pop star. Comedians can pull, but pop stars are usually a little out of their range. Yeah. Not many pop star chuckle fuckers as they're called. Yeah, chuckle fuckers.

But yeah, I think it's interesting that in order to be a successful stand-up, you have to be really specific about the situations that you're talking about. Right. And so, you know, Pete Davidson was telling jokes that were pretty pointed towards Ariana. Typically, I would say a musician would write songs that are more subtle and could be about anybody. Ariana named a song after him. She name dropped him and thank you next. Yes, and I do feel like she sort of shifted

to specificity. Yeah, I just think it's funny to compare what she does to say DB Nicks and that feud where it's like they were making stuff that's a little more poetic and veiled. And Ariana's like, here's why I hate this man. Yeah, and I also feel like nowadays we have the internet and

culture as a whole has just become this kind of behemoth. Everything is everywhere. Like even if you don't care about Ariana Grande, you're going to hear about her in the press. Right. You're probably going to hear her songs. And so subtlety, it's kind of Trailing off and dying. I will say the other music feud that we covered recently was the Joshua

Sabrina Olivia Rodrigo feud. And even they were kind of vague about one another. And that was so frustrating. Right. It is far more satisfying for our purposes when they're just clear in their insults. So you know what? Yeah, I've come around. Name drop. Name drop in your songs. She keeps us entertained. And do I support all of her decisions? Not always, but it does keep me entertained. And I do listen to the music. I do almost.

feel like we need a disantel how problematic is your breakup song equation. What's the formula? How recent was the breakup? How bad was it? What is the mental health of the other person involved? How tangential is Kanye to all of this? These are all important factors. From Wondery, this is This Antell, Ariana Grande, and Pete Davidson. The show is hosted by me, Matt Belisai.

And me, Sidney Battle. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were insiders. Here's a complete timeline of Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson's whirlwind engagement and suddenly. Split and GQ's The Adventures of Pete Davidson. In this episode, we discuss suicidal ideation and drug abuse. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached at 988-288.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness is available at 800-950-6264. Additional resources are available in our show notes. Brad Castro wrote this episode. Kate Downey is our lead producer. Yasmin Ward is our producer, and Jake Dvorsky is our associate producer. Our senior story editor is Alex Burns, and our story editor is Greg Castro.

Sound design is done by Kelly Kramaric with additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Fact-checking by Gabriel Drolet. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Free Sound Sync. Sophia Martins is our managing producer and Sarah Kenny Corrigan is our coordinating producer. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelo, Stephanie Jens, Marshall Lewey, and Aaron O'Flarity for Wondery.