One day after TMZ broke the news that Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson had split and called off their engagement, the site is revealing what brought the young couple to their breaking point after a whirlwind romance.
They famously got engaged in June after mere weeks of dating, and their relationship was tested in September when Ariana's ex, rapper Mac Miller — from whom she split right before she got together with Pete in May — was found dead of an apparent drug overdose.
According to TMZ, Mac's tragic death was a "life-changing fork in the road" for Ariana and Pete and "the tipping point that led to their split."
Sources close to Ariana, 25, and Pete, 24, tell TMZ that the pop star "was in an incredibly dark place following her ex-boyfriend's apparent fatal overdose. She didn't blame herself — she feels she did everything she could to get him sober — but it left her an emotional wreck."
In the wake of the shocking news about Mac, 26, Ariana realized that "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," TMZ writes, after just weeks of knowing the "Saturday Night Live" comedian, who immediately moved into the $16 million New York City apartment she started renting this summer.
According to TMZ, though the decision to split was mutual, Ariana is the one who ultimately decided she and Pete needed to end things.
As for the exactly timeline of the breakup, Pete and Ariana were last publicly photographed together on Oct. 10. And, TMZ reports, she was at the Oct. 13 taping of "Saturday Night Live" to support Pete "and nothing seemed amiss," TMZ writes, adding, "Folks who were there say they looked all boo'd up, kissing and holding each other backstage."
TMZ maintains that something must have happened on Sunday that made the split a done deal.
Another outlet, however, The Sun Online, has claimed that Ariana and Pete actually secretly split a week ago and that she was only at "SNL" in an effort to keep their breakup news private.
"Ariana dumped Pete. They'd been rowing for two weeks about Pete's lack of support after Mac's death," an insider told The Sun. "Ariana has been devastated and Pete couldn't handle it. She realized she needs a grown-up who can support her and that's not him."
On Sunday night, People magazine reported that Ariana and Pete split because "It was way too much too soon," an Ariana source told the magazine, adding, "It's not shocking to anyone."