What Happened to Pete Davidson?

By CelebPaid Editorial Team · 9 min read

Pete Davidson left Saturday Night Live in 2022 after eight seasons and has since focused on film, sobriety and a quieter life.Image via Wikimedia Commons

The SNL Years

Peter Michael Davidson, born November 16, 1993, on Staten Island, New York, joined Saturday Night Live in 2014 at just 20 years old, one of the youngest cast members in the show's history. His father, firefighter Scott Davidson, had died in the September 11 attacks when Pete was seven, and his stand-up, raw, self-deprecating and darkly funny about grief, mental health and his own chaos, made him an instant standout.

Over eight seasons (2014-2022), Davidson became the show's resident wild card: Weekend Update confessionals, chaotic Chad sketches, and a tabloid presence that often overshadowed the show itself. His openness about borderline personality disorder and depression, including a frightening 2018 Instagram post that prompted a police wellness check, made him an unlikely mental health advocate for a generation of fans.

His Weekend Update appearances, where he riffed on his own tabloid coverage with Colin Jost and Michael Che, became must-see TV: a cast member processing his public meltdowns in real time, turning trauma into comedy before the audience's eyes. The segments were as uncomfortable as they were funny, and they made him the show's emotional center.

Leaving SNL in 2022

Davidson exited SNL in May 2022, alongside Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney, at the end of season 47. He later said he was ready to move on and that the show had become a safety net he needed to leave. The exit coincided with the peak of his tabloid fame: his whirlwind 2022 relationship with Kim Kardashian, which began after they met on SNL, made him one of the most talked-about men on the planet.

Post-SNL, he pivoted hard to acting. His semi-autobiographical film The King of Staten Island (2020), directed by Judd Apatow, had already proven his dramatic chops; he followed with roles in Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), Meet Cute (2022), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023, voice), and the Peacock series Bupkis (2023), a fictionalized take on his life.

His SNL legacy, eight seasons from age 20 to 28, places him among the show's defining millennial cast members, alongside McKinnon and Bryant. The chaotic Chad, the Update desk confessionals, the tabloid storylines, all of it now reads as a young star growing up in public, messily and memorably.

The Tabloid Relationships

Davidson's dating history became a cultural phenomenon unto itself. His 2018 whirlwind engagement to Ariana Grande, after just weeks of dating, produced her hit Pete Davidson interlude and endless memes; they split that October. He was subsequently linked to Kate Beckinsale, Kaia Gerber, Phoebe Dynevor and Emily Ratajkowski, each relationship dissected in real time.

The Kim Kardashian relationship (late 2021 to August 2022) was the apex: Kanye West's public hostility toward him, the SNL-born romance, the Met Gala appearances. After their split, Davidson dated Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders, his Bodies Bodies Bodies co-star, before retreating from the dating spotlight. By 2025-2026, his love life had gone conspicuously quiet, which friends attributed to his focus on sobriety.

Rehab and Sobriety

Davidson has been open about checking into rehab and treatment facilities multiple times: first in 2017, then in 2023 for PTSD and borderline personality disorder treatment, and again in 2024 and reportedly 2025 for mental health tune-ups. He has described the stints matter-of-factly, framing them as maintenance rather than crisis, and his candor has been praised by mental health advocates.

He has also spoken about giving up substances including marijuana, which he once used heavily, and about the difficulty of staying grounded amid fame. His stand-up in recent years has mined this material with unusual honesty, turning his treatment experiences into some of his most acclaimed comedy.

Davidson has framed his treatment as ongoing maintenance rather than a single redemption arc, checking in for tune-ups the way others get physicals. His matter-of-factness about PTSD and borderline personality disorder treatment has been praised for destigmatizing mental healthcare among young men, a demographic notoriously resistant to seeking help.

The Tattoo Removal

One of the most visible symbols of Davidson's reset has been his tattoo removal. Famous for being covered in over 100 tattoos, he began laser removal around 2021, partly to expand his acting range (hours of makeup cover-up were limiting his roles) and partly as a personal fresh start. By 2025-2026, his arms were dramatically clearer, a physical manifestation of the quieter era he was building.

The laser removal process, involving dozens of painful sessions, became a metaphor Davidson himself embraced: erasing the impulsive decisions of his twenties, literally. His clearer skin in 2025-2026 paparazzi shots marked the transformation visibly, a fresh canvas for a steadier decade.

Where Is Pete Davidson Now?

At 32, Pete Davidson is in what friends describe as his most stable era. He continues to do stand-up, takes selective acting roles, and has largely withdrawn from the tabloid churn that defined his twenties. His Staten Island roots remain central: he bought a ferry boat with Colin Jost as a famously absurd investment and stays close to his mother and sister.

The chaos-agent image has given way to something steadier: a comedian in recovery, a working actor choosing projects carefully, and a public figure who learned, the hard way, the cost of living every crisis in public. What happened to Pete Davidson is, in the end, a maturation story, told in real time.

His stand-up tours continue to sell out, with material that mines his treatment experiences, his tabloid years and his Staten Island roots. Audiences who came for the chaos now stay for the honesty: a comedian who survived his twenties in public and lived to joke about it.

Staten Island Roots

Davidson is Staten Island incarnate, and he has never let anyone forget it. Born and raised in the borough, he lost his firefighter father on September 11, 2001, when he was seven, a trauma that shaped his dark comedy and his public vulnerability. His stand-up returns obsessively to Staten Island: its characters, its mall culture, its particular working-class humor.

He still lives with strong ties to the borough, bought the infamous Staten Island Ferry boat with Colin Jost as a joint investment (planned as an entertainment venue), and set The King of Staten Island and Bupkis there. His Staten Island identity is both genuine and strategic: in an industry of transplants, he is defiantly, permanently local.

Bupkis and the Acting Pivot

Peacock's Bupkis (2023), a fictionalized take on Davidson's life starring himself alongside Edie Falco and Joe Pesaro, was his boldest post-SNL statement: a half-hour comedy about a fictionalized Pete Davidson navigating fame, family and Staten Island. Critics praised its raw honesty and the performances of its veteran cast, and it earned Davidson some of the best acting notices of his career.

The show, alongside The King of Staten Island (2020), proved the Apatow-backed thesis: Davidson's chaos is most powerful when channeled into semi-autobiographical storytelling. His acting choices since, selective, character-driven, often comedic with dramatic undertones, suggest a performer building a filmography rather than chasing fame.

Timeline

1993: Born on Staten Island. 2001: Loses his firefighter father on 9/11. 2014: Joins SNL at 20. 2018: Engaged to Ariana Grande; split months later; public mental health crisis. 2020: The King of Staten Island. 2022: Leaves SNL; dates Kim Kardashian. 2023: Rehab stint; Bupkis premieres. 2024-2025: Further treatment; tattoo removal progresses. 2026: At 32, a quieter era of stand-up and selective acting.

Stand-Up Now

Davidson's current stand-up, performed on sold-out tours, is his most honest work: long, conversational sets about rehab, his father, Staten Island and the absurdity of his tabloid years. Critics who once dismissed him as a sketch player now praise a comedian with a distinct voice and genuine vulnerability.

The material's throughline is survival: jokes about treatment that land because they're true, impressions of his own chaos delivered with the wisdom of someone who lived through it. At 32, he has become the comedian his 20-year-old SNL self was always threatening to be.

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