Big Sean and Ariana Grande have officially broken up after dating each other for nine months. The former couple first got together last year due to a musical collaboration and had been spotted acting quite romantically on several occasions since then.
Despite their sudden split, the couple reportedly still "care deeply for each other and remain close friends." "We kindly ask that the media respect their wish for privacy regarding this personal matter at this time," said the couple in a joint statement released on Monday morning.
Although it was only recently that news of the breakup surfaced on the Internet, Us Weekly is convinced that things had actually started to fizzle out several weeks ago. This piece of information further fueled rumors that Justin Bieber had something to do with how the couple's romance started to become stale.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the rapper got angry over Grande's raunchy onstage performance with Bieber. The Internet was abuzz with pictures and videos of the "Beauty and the Beat" singer hugging the former Nickelodeon child star from behind while performing on stage.
Sean was allegedly not happy about this incident and Mirror even reported that he threatened the Canadian pop star on social media, telling him to "not to touch my girl like that." He even added the phrase, "Beliebe that," to specify his target. The social media post had been deleted almost immediately after it was posted.
"He is pissed," a source told Hollywood Life. "He gets that they are performing and all that, but he did not like the way Justin was touching Ariana. He thinks he was way too cocky and needs to be taken down a notch."
Although multiple fans have taken screen shots of the post, the rapper's representatives strongly claim that Sean did no such thing and that the screen shots were all fabricated to create drama.
Tabloids would have a field day if Bieber was proven as the cause of the breakup. However, it turns out that Sean and Grande actually broke up "because their conflicting touring schedules would keep them apart over the next year."
Before all the drama broke out though, Sean was clearly in love with the "Love Me Harder" singer. When he had a guest appearance in the show "On Air with Ryan Seacrest," he did not hesitate at all to gush about his then-girlfriend, according to E! Online. "That Ariana is very, very special," he said. "She is very special to me. Everything she has going on is good with her. Everything I have going on is good with me. Everything between me and her is good, and I am just going to leave it at that."
