Ariana Grande appears to have gone Instagram official with her backup dancer Ricky Alvarez, whom she previously dated in 2015.
The Wicked star, 33, reportedly rekindled her relationship with Alvarez, 35, last month, with a source telling People that they are “taking things very slowly.” The new relationship comes months after Grande’s breakup from Wicked co-star Ethan Slater.
On Wednesday, the pop star posted a random assortment of pictures on Instagram, two of which featured Alvarez. The first image showed the two standing together in front of a mirror with Alvarez’s arm around Grande. The second was a blurry mirror selfie of Grande wearing blue fairy wings and embracing Alvarez.
The pair originally dated from 2015 to 2016, when Alvarez was a backup dancer on the singer’s Honeymoon Tour.
“Ariana has always considered Ricky a friend,” a source claimed to People. “She’s not held ill will against him [since their split]. Ricky is dependable, trustworthy and very supportive. Ariana feels she can be herself around Ricky.”
The source added that “they’re not jumping into anything serious right away, but Ari is happy to have him back in her life.”
The Independent has contacted Grande’s representative for comment.
Grande’s carefree post arrived weeks after she announced she was going to take a step back from the public eye following the conclusion of her Eternal Sunshine tour.
“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” her representative said in a statement earlier this month.
“This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”
Grande’s recent breakup from Slater after nearly three years, the ongoing tour, and the release of her latest album Petal have all fueled rampant speculation online about her health and appearance.
The “Hate that I Made You Love Me” artist later clarified her decision to withdraw from the spotlight, telling fans that it was something she had planned “quietly, a long time ago.”
“The announcement that was made yesterday was not a reactive or impulsive thing,” Grande told a crowd at her recent Chicago concert. “It is something that I had decided to plan.”
She continued: “No matter what noises exist out there, nothing will be able to distort my reality or be more real to me or not as real to me as this love that we share.”
