:bong rip: are people buying the ariana / ethan relationship?

was chatting ab it with some friends and none of us "believe" the relationship, but my perception is that the public overall does. I'm curious what you all think since people on this sub tend to be more media literate than most.

our group theory is this was a meaningless on-set fling that was never supposed to come out and the subsequent "relationship" is purely PR spin to lessen the backlash upon affair discovery, since people are generally more forgiving of infidelity if the unfaithfuls stay together afterwards.

here's why I continue to be sus about the legitimacy of this pairing:

- there were blind items ab their affair before it officially broke, which insinuates people outside her camp knew. threat of exposure from a third-party = PR machine starts churning to take control and attempt to regain the upper hand. I think they tried their best to weave the message of 'you don't really know what's going on so don't judge' into the ES album release, but it didn't seem natural to me.

- the optics being as bad as they were, I suspect she would not be permitted to drop him like a bad habit while starring in such a family-friendly film. I can't imagine the studio was thrilled about the press. she seems hell-bent on a serious actress arc right now, so I believe she would eat this mistake for 2 years without complaint if it meant not souring her future relationship with Universal.

- it would make sense for Ethan to go along with this plan because he's already lost his relationship with his wife over the affair, the least he can do now to cut his losses is obtain more face / name recognition for his career by hitching his wagon to AG, however briefly.

- they haven't been photographed together outside of Wicked press events since a couple of months after filming wrapped? even by her new standard of social media posting, he has been miraculously absent from everything non-Wicked since last March. correct me if I'm wrong or missed something but it has been nearly a year with no posts together on holidays, vacations, or birthday celebrations, which is not the norm for her.

- total lack of chemistry and no PDA is unusual behavior for her in a relationship. they barely hold hands? I don't think I have seen them kiss once?

my prediction is that AG will continue to pretend-date this man until part 2 is released and the promotion for it is over. upon Wicked Part 2 being released to streaming, they will orchestrate a breakup that paints them in the best possible light.

am I totally off base? thoughts?