Vanessa Opened Up About Her “Life-Changing” Romances With Zac And Austin
BRB, blasting “When There Was Me and You.”
I’ve been jealous of Vanessa Hudgens since High School Musical came out in 2006. Throughout Hudgens’ years in the spotlight (and a plethora of Netflix Christmas-themed princess-switching movies to show for it), my envy hasn’t wavered. Of course, it’s partly because she’s an uber-successful actress who somehow made the transition from Disney star to legitimate celebrity with few rough patches. But part of it is also the fact that she’s been in two seriously public, long-term relationships with certifiable heartthrobs, Zac Efron and Austin Butler. Though the actor rarely talks about her exes, she gave a little insight into her romantic past in Nylon’s It Girl Issue, published Sept. 12 — and Hudgens’ quote about Efron and Butler is intriguing.
According to Hudgens herself, there’s a lot you don’t know about her. The public only sees so much,” Hudgens told Nylon. “I’ve also been through two very long life-changing relationships, and no one really knows what happened except for me. When I write my memoir, it’ll be amazing.” Um, way to mercilessly tease every #Zanessa fan.
OK, so it’s not like she gave away a ton of details, but that quote definitely teased more to come, and I, for one, cannot wait.
In case your DCOM knowledge isn’t totally up to date, Hudgens and Efron met on the set of High School Musical and dated for a whopping five years before splitting up in December 2010. Though they’re no longer on speaking terms post-breakup, Hudgens has only had good things to say about her ex, crediting him with helping her to stay “grounded” amid the HSM fame.
"It was this massive phenomenon, and [all] eyes were on me. And it's just a really weird, foreign thing to go through and by being in a relationship, it kind of kept me stabilized and grounded and I had someone to lean on who was going through it as well,” Hudgens said in an interview with Shape in 2011.
As for Hudgens’ connection to Butler, they also had a verrry long relationship — like nine years long. The duo called in quits in January 2020, and since then, they’ve stayed pretty mum on their breakup. The only exception? Butler’s extremely vague quote when GQ asked about their romance in May 2022. "Life is full of changes, and you've got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing,” he said. Right...
Hudgens is now happily dating Arizona Diamondbacks player Cole Tucker... and it was a Disney connection that brought them together. “I’m not going to call it a celebrity Zoom, but it was a Zoom meditation group that Joe Jonas put together, yes,” she told Nylon in September. “I did not expect it at all. I don’t think if I entered a meditation Zoom, I’d be like, ‘This is where I’ll meet my person.’ I just showed up and I was like, ‘Who the f*ck is that?’” Cute!
Here’s hoping Hudgens gets working on that memoir ASAP. I needed more details, like, yesterday.
