Vanessa Hudgens Just Got So Real About Dating Zac Efron Almost A Decade After Their Breakup

Vanessa Hudgens is feeling nostalgic, it seems! During an interview on the Awards Chatter podcast, the 30-year-old actress opened about dating her High School Musical co-star Zac Efron. Hudgens said she was “grateful” to have dated someone who could understand what it was like to be propelled into the spotlight, especially during those Disney Channel days. Vanessa Hudgens’ comments about dating Zac Efron show that the relationship definitely meant something special to her, even if it didn’t work out in the end.

Hudgens’ commentary on her relationship with Efron started right at the beginning, with her detailing how she and Efron found each other.

"It started off really organically," Hudgens said of her relationship with Efron. "I could not have been more grateful to have that relationship at the time."

The actress then went on to talk about what a whirlwind experience High School Musical was for her and how her relationship with Efron kept her grounded.

"It was this massive phenomenon 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, it kind of kept me stabilized and grounded, and I had someone to lean on who was going through it as well."

As wonderful an experience as it was for Hudgens to have Efron by her side at that time, it was also a bit of a challenge, especially when it came to being 100 percent professional on set.

"I remember one time we did have a fight and it was while we were at rehearsals, and I remember Kenny Ortega coming around the corner with the most concerned look on his face like, 'Oh no, is our movie going to fall apart right?'" Hudgens explained.

According to Hudgens, this was kind of a mortifying situation because she cares about being professional when she’s working, which is totally understandable.

"I pride myself on being a professional, so I was like that aside we are going to move forward and do what we need to do... and we sorted it all out,” Hudgens explained. “I think because I was so young, I think that relationship stabilized me."

It’s great to know that Hudgens has such positive memories of her time with Efron. And it seems like she’s changed her tone a little bit in terms of talking about Efron publicly. As you may recall, in March 2017, Hudgens appeared on Access Hollywood and got kind of weirded out by questions about Efron.

When Access Hollywood hosts Natalie Morales and Kit Hoover asked Hudgens if she was still friends with Efron, the interview got awkward.

“Oh, wow, yeah, no. That’s not… not a thing that happens,” Hudgens said as she tried to dodge the question. When Morales and Hoover asked again if she and Efron keep in touch, Hudgens denied the possibility outright. “No, I completely lost contact with him,” she said.

So, it seems like Hudgens and Efron aren’t exactly friends at present, but one can't really hold that against her. No one is obligated to be close with an ex. But at least Hudgens can look back fondly on the relationship as a whole.