Ethan Slater addressed backlash over new relationship with Ariana Grande amid cheating rumours before ex-wife broke silence

Following the publication of a personal essay written by Ethan Slater's ex-wife, fans are retracing the details of their divorce.

Lilly Jay, a clinical psychologist in perinatal mental health and child development, explained the breakdown of her marriage and how she has always shunned living a public life or posting on social media in the explosive first-person account.

Ultimately, she ended up divorcing from actor Ethan Slater, who shot to fame after being cast in John M. Chu's Wicked.

On set, he met Ariana Grande, and the two are now officially an item, as the pop singer also went through a separation shortly before the pair announced their relationship.

While it has been refuted by both Slater and Grande that any cheating took place, fans find it hard to believe with the timeline of events.

Slater filed for divorce just two months after the arrival of the son he shares with Jay, who she writes about with love in the piece.

After Grande and Slater became official, people called Grande a 'homewrecker' and disparaged Slater for leaving his partner of 12 years for a celebrity.

Ethan Slater and Lilly Jay are now divorced (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Prior to the publication of Jay's side of the story, Slater addressed the online backlash from the public, and told GQ in September: "I think there was something that was really difficult about things in your private life being commented on and looked at by the public.

"There were a lot of big changes in private lives that were really happening, so it's really hard to see people who don't know anything about what's happening commenting on it."

Similarly, Grande told Vanity Fair later that month: “The most disappointing part was to see so many people believe the worst version of it.

"There couldn’t be a less accurate depiction of a human being than the one that the tabloids spread about him."

Jay, speaking out in her own side of the story, wrote: "My partner was on a different path, in which social media and exposure were not impediments but rather necessities.

"We puzzled through this predicament ... It was a tenuous balance — my profession, which requires privacy, and his, which is measured in applause — but it worked well while life was unfolding according to our plans."

Slater is now in a relationship with his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande (Elsa/Getty Images)

Jay then revealed she'd undergone a traumatic birthing experience, writing: "When my baby was first placed on my chest, still tethered to me by his umbilical cord, I sobbed with relief. We had done it. He had arrived. I survived preeclampsia, a life-threatening birth complication, and finally, our family was whole.

"Consumed by the magic and mundanity of new motherhood, I didn’t understand the growing distance between us."

Jay reflected on the heartbreak, adding: "Slowly but surely, I have come to believe that in the absence of the life I planned with my high-school sweetheart, a lifetime of sweetness is waiting for me and my child."

In lines which have gone viral, Jay appears to reference the release of Wicked.

She wrote: "Days with my son are sunny. Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker."