What You Should Keep In Mind About Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande's Breakup

On Sunday, news broke that singer Ariana Grande and comedian Pete Davidson split, calling off their highly publicized romance-turned-engagement. Grande’s ex-boyfriend and rapper, Mac Miller, died of an apparent overdose last month.

Davidson has spoken openly about his diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). When the pair started dating in May, some social media users were quick to say that Grande jumped from one “toxic” relationship to another, implying that folks with BPD are automatically “toxic” in relationships.

While some have taken to Twitter to blame Davidson’s BPD for the end of the relationship, others have used the opportunity to talk about how hard breakups can be for people with BPD. One of the hallmark symptoms of BPD is experiencing unstable interpersonal relationships and fear of abandonment, so some users have offered the comedian support and encouraged people to think about the way Davidson might be feeling right now.

Before y’all make your anticipated commentary on their breakup, please remember Pete Davidson suffers from borderline personality disorder. You can’t begin to imagine the world of pain and suffering he could be in. This isn’t an ordinary breakup, with BPD it’s about surviving it. https://t.co/LuHQtlE8TY

— Jason (@jasonosia) October 15, 2018

People with #BPD need good friends, good support, and good meds. Thoughts and prayers are lip service. Hope #PeteDavidson has his shit together enough to weather this.

— Jeff Jackson (@mrjeffjackson) October 14, 2018

I’m sad for Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande. They found each other at difficult moments in their life – a new BPD diagnosis, a terrorist attack that resulted in PTSD – and it looked like they made each other happy. With Mac Miller dying too, I just hope they’re both okay.

— L ????????⚘ (@OneMoreLightLB) October 14, 2018

given how people talked about ariana grande after mac miller died & framed it as her fault, i already know she’s gonna get the entire blame about pete davidson’s inevitable post-breakup bpd symptoms

— NO! TWEETS! TILL BROOKLYYYYYN (@ElSangito) October 15, 2018

While we can’t know exactly how Davidson is feeling, going through a breakup while living with BPD can be incredibly difficult. This is something Mighty contributor Haley Beckman is familiar with. In her piece, “How Borderline Personality Disorder Makes a Breakup Feel Like the End of the World,” she wrote,

When I started dating my ex, I immediately became attached to him. Wayyy too attached. I shamelessly loved him with every fiber of my being because, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel alone. I didn’t feel empty. But throughout the relationship I lived in a chronic sense of fear he would leave me and I’d be alone once again.

And he did…

Imagine how heartbreak feels. Now multiply that by 100. That’s how I felt after being rejected by the person I loved so dearly, left without an explanation for the reason I was even rejected.

If you live with BPD and are struggling with a breakup, you’re not alone — and you’re not “doomed” to have painful relationships forever. The Mighty previously spoke to BPD expert Dr. Foreman who gave some words of encouragement to folks with BPD who would like to have healthy relationships:

If you have borderline personality disorder, by definition, you are having very painful relationships… What I can tell you though is that people with borderline personality disorder can recover and can have good, beautiful, stable relationships. I’ve seen it over and over. [But] you cannot have better relationships until you change something, and you will have to do very hard work to change that.

This kind of “hard work” may involve lifestyle changes, taking medication, processing through past trauma and being in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).