Highlights
- Pete Davidson told Variety he’s ‘cool’ with ex Ariana Grande and slammed body-shaming critics as ‘not cool.’
- He says he has ‘a lot of love’ for Kim Kardashian and admires how her family handles fame and scrutiny.
- Davidson, now a dad, says his work is ‘super overlooked’ because the public stays fixated on his love life.
Pete Davidson has a status update on Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian. The short version: everybody’s fine, and he’s exhausted.
In a Variety cover story published Wednesday, Sept. 30, the comedian weighed in on the chatter around Grande, which peaked this summer as commenters obsessed over her appearance and slim frame.
He isn’t a fan. “I don’t like it at all. It’s not cool,” Davidson explained.
He isn’t panicking on her behalf, either. “She knows how to handle this stuff though. She’s been around.”
He also praised his ex-fiancée as “a really strong person” who can take the heat.
So where do they actually stand, eight years after the engagement that gave the world “Thank U, Next”? “We’re not texting or whatever, but we’re cool.”
That matches what he told Page Six last year, when he explained their run-ins are “few and far between, because we’re not in the same circles.”
Translation: no group chat, no grudge, no sequel.
Now, Kardashian. Davidson recalled meeting her during a 2021 Saturday Night Live sketch, and their romance arrived with a very loud plus-one named Kanye West.
Davidson told Variety that West targeted him despite his openness about his mental health, and he joked that he “cleared the path” for Kardashian to date again.
None of that soured him on Kim. He told Variety he admires how her family owns their fame: “I found that very attractive and mature.”
“We’re cool, and I have a lot of love for her,” he added of the SKIMS founder.
The feeling seems mutual. Kardashian once said on Hulu’s The Kardashians that “Pete has the best heart.”
And back in 2024, a source told People he’s “still friends with pretty much all his exes.”
So what’s the problem? The problem is that the exes are the only thing anyone wants to talk about.
“My work and my relevance is super overlooked, and it’s confusing to me,” he admitted.
“What the f–k do I have to do?”
It’s not a new gripe. He previously described the fixation on his love life as “humiliating and upsetting.”
He does own his part in it. He acknowledged he’s dated a lot of people, then argued that so has everyone else in the industry, and that he was in his 20s.
What actually shifted his perspective was his daughter. Davidson welcomed Scottie Rose with model Elsie Hewitt in December and split from Hewitt in May 2026. He told Variety that the first time he saw her, he realized the industry stuff didn’t matter because it’s just a job.
Here’s the thing. Davidson has a point: the BDE discourse flattened a genuinely odd, talented comic into a punchline about who he’s kissing.
But a man who gives Variety fresh Kim and Ariana quotes on cover day can’t be shocked when those quotes become the headline.
Pete, you did this. Again. And honestly? We’re cool.
