Theory: Dalton/Ethan and the Glinda identity crisis

This is long, but… I saw this video of Ariana talking about Glinda and I can’t help but feel like she is actually talking about herself and Dalton here.

(Disclaimer, this is all a baseless theory from my own mind and observations)

She starts to almost cry when she says “the strength of knowing that…” and then she goes on to talk about how “I know it’s acting but it felt real” the way Glinda doesn’t go with Elphaba at the end. I think she is referring to herself when she says “I don’t think she’s not strong enough to go I think she’s strong enough to not go.”

The reason I think this is because I’ve always had a bit of a theory about Dalton - he is described as low key and down to earth. She started going more traditional when she got with him, wore less makeup, grew out her curly hair etc. They also got together in quarantine and their marriage fell apart when they went back to their normal lives.

I think Dalton was her perfect man in every way, but he didn’t play into her “world revolves around me” pop star circus and she resented him for that. He used to hang with Miley, fame probably isn’t a big deal to him. Her mind genuinely can’t comprehend that some people don’t care about her wealth or status as much as they do about values, morals and being a good person.

I think Dalton was genuine & wanted to settle down with her and Ariana went along with that act because she wanted Dalton. But she feeds on validation and can only keep up the “I’m a down to earth housewife” act for so long. Even her album Positions makes sense with this theory. That’s her doing “housewife” and she did it in the most extra, pop star way possible. I always thought the concept of the album was kind of strange and gave me the sense that she was trying to impress her man more than anything else. It clearly wasn’t about the music.

Then she gets her role of a lifetime - Glinda - and gets super excited and obsessive and crazy. Her celebrity life is coming back in full swing. Dalton doesn’t seem to be interested in musical theatre, and (this is all just my alleged delusional theory) being a kind of down to earth quiet dude he’s not gonna lose his mind about Wicked like she is. She has liked pictures/made comments/wrote lyrics insinuating that he was unsupportive in some ways, or didn’t care about the same things she did. Maybe it’s about this. The problem is, she cares about all the wrong things. The turning up the tv while crying etc paints a picture of some evil boyfriend but honestly I just get the vibe that he was tired of her dramatics and her vapid shallow celebrity lifestyle. No sane normal person is going to be able to deal with the Ariana Grande show every single day for the rest of their lives. And if he’s a masculine traditional type of man he wouldn’t have wanted to follow his wife around like a puppy dog - she probably hated that.

Either way I do think he was supportive of her doing Wicked but obviously there’s going to be a bit of resentment from him toward a job that takes his wife to the other side of the globe after they just got married. Or maybe she offered for him to come with her (follow her around) but he declined because he has a career in real estate and he can’t just pack up and go. She probably offered to pay his wages tbh, I get this feeling that on principle he wanted to keep his career going and she probably hated that he didn’t just drop everything to jump on the AG train. She’s not used to it. Why wouldn’t you just quit your job and follow your amazing pop star queen around for the rest of your life as her lap dog? Again this is all my delusional theory but the more I see the more plausible it seems.

So when she says in this video (and almost starts crying) that Glinda “isn’t the type of person who’s gonna do that” and that “you can love someone so much but they go that way and I can’t go with you” or whatever she says, I feel like she’s referring to Dalton. They wanted two different things. They probably tried to make the distance work in London but she would’ve already been feeling some resentment that he wasn’t there with her like she thinks he should be, and he’s probably feeling fed up with her and her desperate need for attention at all times. She seems genuinely exhausting to be around, he was probably keen for a break.

Then she gets to set and meets Ethan, who not only plays the character who sucks up her asshole the entire movie, but who sucks up her asshole in real life. He has genuine broadway cred, musical theatre is not silly to him, it is his life. He fawns over her and she enjoys the attention. At the same time she’s had this insecurity of “not being glinda enough” so he also helps her to live out the fantasy - a simp in real life to help with her method acting! She perceives her big bad husband as being mean to her and Spongeboq as the knight in shining armour. It helps that he’s also straight and married.

And what else…. His wife Lilly is beautiful and most importantly DOWN TO EARTH. Educated. Intelligent. Low key. All the things Dalton wants her to be more like. It triggers the fuck out of her. Dalton probably wanted kids, Ariana is too ED’d out to have kids, their marriage and newborn baby probably triggers her subconscious fears and insecurity. If they really did go on double dates, I wonder what Dalton thought of Lilly? He probably admired her in some way. All of this combined is a perfect storm for their affair. She can steal the man from his down to earth wife and prove to herself that she really is the special one and put herself above “normal” “traditional” housewife types. Ethan is a pathetic loser who wants to be famous and will fawn over her fame like Dalton never did. She’s probably just trying to feel better about herself and maybe make Dalton a bit jealous or prove him wrong. She doesn’t think she’d actually get caught or a man would actually leave her if she cheated. And it makes sense now when you think about the Lilly Jay quote “this story is about Ariana and Dalton. My family is just collateral damage.”

At this point the narcissist discards Dalton for her new supply Ethan. She either thinks Dalton will come back begging, or she knows he won’t so she’s doing it to spite him. The story leaks. Everything starts falling apart. She has to cling to Ethan now and convince herself that all is fine. It works for a bit.

But narcissists freak out when you don’t beg for them back, and Daltons behaviour after the breakup always gave me “Good riddance” vibes - like he was relieved to be free of her bullshit. 1 million dollars isn’t that much to shut up forever. I always got the vibe he just wanted it over and done with. He doesn’t even care to talk about her or give her a reaction he just wants her gone. She would be fuming that Dalton didn’t fight for her and simply moved on. With a beautiful thin natural blonde actress, no less. He found a real life Glinda. That’s gotta piss her off. Maika is also, you guessed it… low key, down to earth, natural looking, real. Dalton has a type.

She then hurriedly releases Eternal Sunshine to control the narrative and make Dalton look bad - probably out of pure jealousy and bitterness. On the album there’s a few lines that insinuate she’d want him back. In the same time frame she imitates a few of Maika’s looks. She also makes some heavily publicised appearances at Spamalot complete with screaming fans to reassure herself that she’s doing better than him and that her choice was worth it. None of this seems to affect Dalton or Maika. This probably eats Ariana alive. She posts weird videos of her crying on the couch and body checks. She starts clinging to Cynthia.

I think this video is her talking about her choosing her pop star life over the low key married life she could’ve had with Dalton that she ruined. I think she is still desperate to justify her choices to herself. She identifies with Glinda, who is not interested in anything “real”, she sees herself as the GRAND Ariana, a star, a world famous celebrity - she is NOT interested in a normal, REAL life. I also think that’s why she is really trying to convince everyone that this musical and movie are SO important, SO life changing, and that musical theatre is this incredibly artistic thing. It’s her insecurity about Dalton. And the way she’s almost crying while talking about it, honestly I think she never got over him and has a lot of regrets. A lot of Eternal sunshine seems to be about him, she even implies that she wants him back. “I wish I hated you” for example.

She got everything she wanted but it is meaningless and that must sting because Dalton was right. The celebrity world IS shallow and fickle. Wicked isn’t life changing. She is not getting the praise or awards she wanted for this role. She is actively being made fun of for talking about the role like it’s important or artistic. People talk more about her concerning appearance and her home-wrecking than her acting. Dalton moved on and Maika’s movies are getting a great reception, Ethan’s ex is out there penning thoughtful nuanced essays about how he and his mistress destroyed her life. Ariana is no longer considered beautiful, she is uncanny. And to make matters worse, she’s now got a ginger gremlin clinging to her coattails and she has to keep him there for appearances sake.

So what we are witnessing as of right now, with the clear ick she’s getting from Ethan, the desperate Audrey Hepburn cosplay, the fried hair, the extreme ED, is her world genuinely falling apart as a result of her actions. She has backed herself into a corner she can’t sing her way out of. All her worst nightmares have come true and it’s because she was enabled to act the way she does for so long. She has no one to blame but herself. I see such sadness and fear in her eyes, honestly, something is so incredibly wrong. I think the baby age regression stuff is some weird self soothing thing and a desperate ploy for sympathy. And the old Hollywood stuff might be a general kind of, “affairs are part of life in this town, dahhhling!” justification ploy. She’s trying to both infantilise and Elizabeth Taylor-herself into having her mistakes overlooked. Referring to Glinda’s “strength” in this video makes it clear she still sees herself as a victim, so she’s still in denial. Her downfall has only just begun and honestly I think with the severe mental illness and ED symptoms she’s exhibiting, if she doesn’t get real help and a reality check soon she could die. I also think she likes that people say this about her - it adds to the sympathy. She apparently made a joke about dropping dead recently. I’m not sure this woman will ever get a grip on reality.

What do you think?

*tw mentions of ED/bodychecking