Vanessa Hudgens Said She’s “Grateful” She Broke Up With Austin Butler Because It “Catapulted” Her Toward “The Right Person”

Vanessa and Austin split in 2020 after nearly nine years together.

By
Ellen Durney
by Ellen Durney

BuzzFeed Staff

Take it from Vanessa Hudgens — everything happens for a reason.

Vanessa smiling in a black off-shoulder outfit and gloves at Fashion Awards event
Variety / Variety via Getty Images

You might remember that in January 2020, a lot of people were left shocked by the news that Vanessa had broken up with her longtime boyfriend Austin Butler.

Vanessa, in a sequined dress, smiles on the red carpet with Austin, who is wearing a tuxedo with a bow tie
George Pimentel / Getty Images

Austin and Vanessa started dating in 2011, and in the nearly nine years they were together, they became a beloved power couple among fans.

Their split was reported around the time that Austin headed to Australia to start work on Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, and numerous reports suggested that the demands of the role may have been the catalyst for the breakup.

Vanessa and Austin standing together
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

“They're just shooting on two different continents and it's a matter of distance,” a source told E! News at the time. “There is no bad blood at all, and they have a lot of respect for each other.”

Funnily enough, it was actually Vanessa who first encouraged Austin to pursue the role after noticing that he bore a striking resemblance to the rock ’n’ roll icon while they were still together.

Vanessa Hudgens sits on a sofa wearing a sleeveless patterned dress, posing for a photo
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“We were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” Vanessa said in 2019. “He had just dyed his hair dark — he’s a natural blonde — and I was looking at him and he was singing along, and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis. I don’t know how, but I’m serious. You need to play him.’”

As we now know, Elvis wound up massively boosting Austin’s career, earning him his first Oscar nomination. And while Vanessa wasn’t by his side to experience the success of the hit film, she recently said that everything worked out for the best.

Vanessa smiling in a strapless ruffled dress and Austin in a classic suit at a media event
Jean Baptiste Lacroix / WireImage

Appearing on the She Pivots podcast this week, the High School Musical star reflected on her heartbreaks and said she gained a lot from her split from Austin.

A close-up of Vanessa smiling and waving at an event
Mike Coppola / Getty Images

“I feel like so much of my character was built from my breakups,” she said. “My last breakup had really catapulted me into a very, very special place.”

Namely, she said the end of the relationship led her to find her now-husband, MLB player Cole Tucker, whom she met by chance during a Zoom meditation group in 2020.

The couple posing together on the red carpet: Cole in a classic suit and Vanessa in a satin gown with a thigh-high slit
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for WarnerMedia

“It pushed me to the right person, which I'm so grateful for,” she said, referring to Cole, whom she married last December after getting engaged in February.


“He is just the most supportive, real, understanding human being that I've ever met,” she added.

Since they parted ways, Vanessa has given very little insight into her breakup with Austin or the reasons for it. However, once she’d met Cole, she recalled that the split forced her to totally reevaluate her approach to relationships in order to find someone she fully aligned with.

Vanessa with long hair, posing in lace attire
Taylor Hill / FilmMagic

“I was in an eight-year-long relationship before him, so after that I was like, ‘OK, we’re getting serious.’ We’re going to make a list of things that I need. Not want, but actually need,” she told Jay Shetty in 2022.


“Straight off the bat, I was very forthright with what it is I want in a relationship,” she said, revealing she and Cole made sure they were on the same page about marriage, kids, family, and work goals during the very early stages of their romance.


Explaining her “straight-up” attitude, she said, “Those things get lost in the shuffle, and then you end up investing time in people that you shouldn’t.”

Meanwhile, Austin has been dating model and actor Kaia Gerber since 2022, and for his part, it sounds as if he has nothing but love for his ex.

A close-up of Austin in a suit jacket at a media event
Arturo Holmes / The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

After being widely criticized for failing to properly credit Vanessa for inspiring him to take on Elvis while he was promoting the movie last year, Austin recently cleared up speculation about any animosity between them.

Austin with tousled hair wearing a blazer over a casual top, looking at the camera
Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein / WireImage

“I learned a lesson with that one,” he told Esquire last month, referring to the backlash he faced for not naming her while retelling the story of the “friend” who first pointed out his likeness to Elvis.


“I felt that I was respecting her privacy in a way and not wanting to bring up a ton of things that would cause her to have to talk,” he added. “I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything.”

You can listen to Vanessa on the She Pivots podcast here.

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