Former ‘High School Musical’ Star Reportedly Just Ended An Almost 9-Year Romance
Disney darling Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame made headlines for her five-year romance with co-star Zac Efron. Splitting with Efron in 2010, Hudgens moved on to find love with love with actor Austin Butler, whom she started dating in 2011.
Their relationship seemed on solid ground, yet reports just surfaced that the two have parted ways after over eight years together.
Former flame
Hudgens’ high-profile romance with Efron began almost immediately after being cast for the now-famous Disney trilogy. “We created a bond right from the start,” Hudgens told People in April of Efron. “We were like, ‘We’re doing this, it’s us or nothing.’”
With the sudden fame that High School Musical brought to the cast, Hudgens was thankful to have Efron help her through the adjustment to stardom. “We kinda blew up. It was this massive phenomenon all of a sudden and [all] eyes were on me,” she said. “And it’s just a really weird foreign thing to go through, and by being in a relationship, I feel like it kind of kept me stabilized and grounded, and I had someone to lean on who was going through it as well.”
Though she was enjoying her new-found fame and her relationship with the heartthrob, Hudgens wasn’t a fan of the female attention Efron often received. “I went through a phase when I was really mean because I was so fed up,” Hudgens told The New York Times in 2015, according to People. “Girls were running after him, and I was giving them death stares. Then I realized that’s not what that’s about.”
The two reportedly parted as friends, though Hudgens says she hasn’t “seen him or spoken to him in years.”
Recent raves on romance
In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan UK, the High School Musical alum sounded completely committed to her relationship with Butler. “FaceTime, good communication, respect and trust [are what keep us going],” Hudgens said. “The longest we’ve been apart was four months. It sucks! You start hating hearing yourself say ‘I miss you.’ But if it’s your person, you make it work.”
The actress also sang Butler’s praises in a Women’s Health interview in 2018.“He inspires me more than anyone. We both respect, trust, and admire each other,” Hudgens shared. “It’s so solid now because I feel strong as an independent woman. I am very self-reliant, but it’s nice to have a best friend you can share victories with as well as losses.”
Rumored split
According to Us Weekly, a source confirmed that Hudgens and Butler have parted ways. “Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” the insider shared. Neither have confirmed the news on their social media accounts.
Butler recently played the role of Charles “Tex” Watson in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and is set to play Elvis Presley alongside Tom Hanks in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic on the music icon.
“I had heard about Austin Butler from his stand-out role opposite Denzel Washington in ‘The Iceman Cometh’ on Broadway,” Luhrmann said, according to Variety. “Through a journey of extensive screen testing and music and performance workshops, I knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures.”
Hudgens’ appears in the film Bad Boys For Life, hitting theaters this week. She is also working on the Netflix sequel The Princess Switch: Switched Again, set to be released later this year.
