Breaking his silence. After crediting her for the reason why he auditioned for Elvis, many fans are wondering: why did Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens break up?
After some speculation that Vanessa helped him gain confidence to go for the titular role of the Baz Lurhmann film, Austin cleared up that his ex-girlfriend did help him. “That’s right,” he clarified about the role she played. “I was with my partner at the time. We’d been together for so long and she had this sort of clairvoyant moment and so I really, I owe her a lot for believing in me,” Austin told the Los Angeles Times in January 2023.
So why did Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens break up? Read more below to find out the real reason the couple called it quits.
Why did Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens break up?
Image: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images for Luisaviaroma
Why did Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens break up? The High School Musical alum and the Carrie Diaries star never directly explained why they broke up, but touched upon it in some interviews.
Austin expressed his feelings in his June 2022 GQ cover story on May 25, 2022. He offered a brief insight on how the breakup with The Princess Switch star affected him, telling the magazine, “Life is full of changes, and you’ve got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing.”
When Austin first got the role, Vanessa was at the front lines supporting her boyfriend at the time. Vanessa took to Instagram to share her super supportive reaction: “I AMMMM OVERRRR THE F–KING MOOOOOOOOONNNNN,” she wrote in a caption. “I CANT WAIT 😍😍😍😍😍😍 SO PROUD OF MY HONEYYYYY!!!”
Vanessa and Austin broke up in 2021 after dating for almost a decade. An insider revealed to E! News that the stars’ schedules were the reason for their breakup. Vanessa was busy in Europe filming The Princess Switch 2, while Austin was busy filming the Baz Luhrman film about the King of Rock and Roll. “They’re just shooting on two different continents and it’s a matter of distance,” the insider said. “There is no bad blood at all, and they have a lot of respect for each other.”
The two moved on pretty quickly. Shortly after news broke of their breakup, In December 2021, Austin was spotted leaving a yoga class with model Kaia Gerber in Los Angeles and they were seen leaving to get into Kaia’s car, with Austin in the driver’s seat, according to photos from the Daily Mail. Upon leaving, the model and Elvis actor wore face coverings and were dressed for comfort post-workout while engaging in what looked to be a thoughtful discussion. which fueled dating rumors. The two made their red carpet debut at the 2022 Met Gala where they posed for pictures, while Vanessa was hosting the Vogue livestream for the event. In a GQ profile, Austin was lowkey about his relationship with Kaia. When asked about the paparazzi speculation of their relationship, he responded, “I don’t think there’s anything I want to share about that. But thank you for providing the space.”
Meanwhile, Vanessa is dating Pittsburgh Pilot baseball player Cole Tucker. When she described their relationship, she told Glamour UK that “He’s his own person. Our interests are very different, but our fundamentals are the same. He’s goofy and I’m very goofy. None of us take ourselves too seriously.”
Austin and Vanessa do respect each other even though they are in different relationships. A source told Life & Style on December 27, 2021, that Vanessa is “totally cool” about her ex-boyfriend’s relationship with Kaia. “She has moved on,” the insider said. “She and Austin didn’t work out. It happens.”
In press surrounding Elvis, Austin was very vague about his relationship with Hudgens and how he got the role. He recently discussed how he was pushed to audition for the role of The King of rock ‘n roll. “The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend,” Butler recently said during The Hollywood Reporter‘s Actors Roundtable. “There was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was singing along, and my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.’”
He continued, “A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano. I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. That same friend was there and I was playing the piano. She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.’” Fans speculated that the “friend” was in fact his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens.
Fans also noticed that Vanessa shared the same anecdote in 2019 when she appeared in an episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan and when they were still together. “Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” she recalled. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blond, and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.’”
After his Golden Globe win for Best Actor, the Carrie Diaries star was asked about his everlasting Elvis accent, “I don’t think I sound like [Presley] still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” Butler told reporters. “I had three years where that was my only focus. So, I’m sure there’s pieces of him in my DNA and I’ll always be linked.” He also told
Instagram user @ryinskott posted a screenshot of Page Six’s update of the actor’s acting choices: “Austin Butler’s accent is ‘genuine’ and might remain ‘forever’” per his vocal coach. The user captioned the post, “He went to the Lady Gaga school of Oscar campaign acting.” Vanessa commented, “Crying”, suggesting she was crying with laughter. Many fans came out to support her, with one user also commenting, “Credit where credit is due, Vanessa made him.”
When did Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens date?
Image: Getty Images.
Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens dated for almost nine years from 2011 to 2020. They were first linked in September 2011 after they were photographed together at the birthday part of their mutual friend Ashley Tisdale’s sister, Jennifer. (Austin and AShley starred in Disney Channel’s Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, while Vanessa and Ashley starred in the High School Musical movies.) Austin and Vanessa confirmed their relationship in February 2012 after they walked the red carpet together at Hudgens’ movie, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.
Austin and Vanessa broke up in January 2020 after more than eight years together. “They really loved each other and have been through some of their toughest life moments together,” a source told People at the time. “Busy work schedules and travel definitely put a strain on the relationship. They were a wonderful couple and it’s really sad that it didn’t work out.” Another source added to People, “The breakup isn’t easy, but she’s not one to sit around and mope. She’s living it up and having fun. She seems really happy and excited about life, honestly.”
Austin broke his silence on his breakup from Vanessa in an interview with GQ in May 2022.”Life is full of changes, and you’ve got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing,” he said. Vanessa broke her silence in an interview with Nylon in September 2022. “The public only sees so much. I’ve also been through two very long life-changing relationships, and no one really knows what happened except for me,” she said. “When I write my memoir, it’ll be amazing.”
Elvis is available to stream on HBO Max. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Amazon
For more about Elvis and his family, including his marriage to Priscilla and raising his only daughter, Lisa Marie, you have to read Elvis by the Presleys; an intimate account of life at the Graceland ranch by the people who knew it best. This revealing memoir features hours of exclusive family interviews, quotes from The King himself as well as private photos and family memorabilia from the Graceland and Elvis Presley archives.
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