Pete Davidson Is Cool With His Famous Exes

Say what you want about Pete Davidson, but he is undoubtedly a chill guy. In the comedian’s new Variety cover story, he talks about his extremely A-list ex-girlfriends Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian and comes off like a nice, normal dude. Even when talking about how his ex-fiancé Grande wrote two songs about him — “pete davidson,” a short track off Sweetener, and then her No. 1 smash hit “Thank U, Next” — he’s not sweating it. “It’s something that comes up once in a while,” he says. “But I think Ariana’s fuckin’ cool and immensely talented and an awesome girl. We’re not texting or whatever, but we’re cool.” When the fact that she’s taking a step back due to public scrutiny comes up, he comes to her defense. “I don’t like it at all,” Davidson says. “It’s not cool. She’s a really strong person — I’ve witnessed it — and I don’t understand it. She knows how to handle this stuff though. She’s been around. So she’ll be OK, but I think it’s fucked up.” That we should all have exes who talk about us this levelheaded-ly in public

When it comes to Kim K, Davidson is also very complimentary. “Look, man, that’s a really tough atmosphere if you’re not game,” he says. “One of the things I love about Kim and that whole family is they’re like, ‘This is what we do.’ I found that very attractive and mature.” Though he does joke a bit about them (“I’m one of the survivors — the few and the proud,” he says of his fellow ex-Kardashians. “We’re like the Marines”), Davidson is ultimately clear about his agency in the relationship and why it didn’t work. “I was never subjected to anything I didn’t want to be a part of,” he confirms. “She was super respectful of all of it, but the craze of that lifestyle — being followed everywhere, having security and looking over your shoulder — for a guy with mental stuff, and at the time drug problems, was a little too much for me. But we’re cool, and I have a lot of love for her, and I knew what I was getting into.” 

Davidson is even calm when talking about Kardashian’s ex-husband Ye, who once wrote a song antagonizing Davidson. “What people don’t understand about that dude — and I’m not one-one-millionth as talented or influential or powerful as that dude, but I have dealt with a fraction of what he’s had to deal with public-wise — is that’ll do it,” he explains. “He’s also lost a parent and has mental stuff, and I don’t know how he deals with it or who he has around him. Probably a lot of people who want to be his friend. I’ve had that. When people are so far up your ass and constantly pushing and provoking you and not showing you love, you want to burn it all. I think it got to a certain point where he was like, ‘Leave me the fuck alone. I’m just going to say crazy shit.’ There’s zero way he really feels like that.” The King of Staten Island is now in Zen mode.