Vanessa Hudgens Breaks Up With Longtime Boyfriend Austin Butler — All The Details About Their Heartbreaking Split
Love is dead.
Getty Who is Austin Butler? The actor recently landed a once in a lifetime opportunity to play a legend on screen, and was cast as Elvis Presley in an upcoming biopic of the late King of Rock’n’Roll.
But he isn’t the only major star attached to the picture, either. Iconic director Baz Lurhmann wore the screenplay and is set to direct, and Oscar winner Tom Hanks will play Elvis’s longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Although the news was originally met with jubilation from Butler’s long-time girlfriend, Vanessa Hudgens, who took to Instagram to share her pride, the couple have now reportedly gone their separate ways, which came as a shock to their fans considering the pair were together for nine years!
Read on for all the details about their relationship and what led to their breakup.
1. Who is Austin Butler? He's an actor.
Austin Butler is a California native who was discovered by a talent agent while he was walking around the Orange County Fair when he was only 13 years old.
After booking a job as a background actor on Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, he started taking acting lessons and moved into TV roles on popular shows like Hannah Montana, Zoey 101 and iCarly.
2. He has taken on some serious roles.
Butler has moved on from roles in kids shows and started doing some serious acting work in more recent years. He was in a Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh opposite Denzel Washington in 2018. He was also in Quentin Tarantino's movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, where he worked with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Before that, he made The Dead Don’t Die, a zombie thriller with Bill Murray.
3. Butler had competition for the role of Elvis.
Bulter wasn't the only one up for the role of Elvis. Lurhmann had been taking his time to find the perfect actor to play the title role in the film. Rumor has it that he also considered Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, and Harry Styles.
“I knew I couldn’t make this film if the casting wasn’t absolutely right, and we searched thoroughly for an actor with the ability to evoke the singular natural movement and vocal qualities of this peerless star, but also the inner vulnerability of the artist,” the Moulin Rouge director said. “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.”
4. The movie will have a new twist.
This particular movie will offer new insight into the behind-the-scenes professional world of Elvis. While there has been a lot of attention paid to Elvis’ marriage to Priscilla Presley, his substance abuse in his later years, and the decline of his health before his death by overdose, his relationship to his professional manager is a less explored facet of his career.
Lurhmann plans to focus on the 20-year relationship Presley had with Colonel Tom Parker, who will be played by Tom Hanks in the film. The production will shoot in Australia, though dates have not been announced.
5. Butler dated actress Vanessa Hudgens for nine years.
Butler and Hudgens dated since 2011, though they met as far back as 2005 when Hudgens was still with Zac Efron. The two were just friends at the time, but started dating after Hudgens split from Efron after dating for 5 years.
By 2014, Hudgens referred to Butler as the “love of [her] life" on Instagram, in a post that said, “Yesterday was the love of my life's birthday. Happy birthday to the man with the kindest heart, beautiful soul, crazy talent and best looks I've ever seen. He never stops inspiring me in every aspect of life and always lifts those around him up higher. I thank god so greatly for blessing the world 23 years ago by creating Austin Butler."
Butler had been there to support her during the tough times following the death of her father in 2017.
6. They had discussed getting married.
While the couple had been together for almost a decade, they appeared to have been in no rush to get married. In 2017, a photo Hudgens posted got fans buzzing because it appeared to show a ring that looked like an engagement ring.
She quickly shut down the rumors, saying, “Guysssss. I'm not engaged! I posted a pic. Not to show off my ring that I happened to throw on that finger after a long day of filming but to show off my haircut Lol.”
The following year, she revealed that she didn’t even feel pressure to move to marriage, saying, “No, because if I felt pressure in a relationship, we wouldn't have been together for almost seven years.” She ended the discussion by adding, “Each couple has their own journey.”
However, recent news has suggested otherwise. A source revealed, “They had talked about an engagement before they split up. They really loved each other and have been through some of their toughest life moments together.”
7. Butler and Hudgens recently broke up.
The long-time Hollywood couple recently split, much to the shock of their fans. In Hollywood years, Butler and Hudgens had a relationship that lasted much longer than most marriages even last!
Their split was confirmed in January 2020 by a source who confirmed, “Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup.”
However, the pair had their fans wondering about the true status of their relationship even before the new year when neither Hudgens nor Butler shared any photos of each other over the holidays.
8. Could they be considering a reconciliation?
There may be hope for the couple's fans and the couple themselves, after all. According to a source who said that the couple are "split for now," they also added that the exes are "going to see what happens... They have such a history and deep connection they could find their way back to one another."
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side.