Austin Butler on Why He Called Ex Vanessa Hudgens a ‘Friend’

Austin Butler will always have a burning love for ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens. The actor has revealed why he called the High School Musical alum a “friend” while previously discussing how he got his award-winning lead role for Elvis.

“Oh, yeah, I learned a lesson with that one. 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,” Austin, 32, told Esquire in a Tuesday, February 6, cover story. “I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything. I value my own privacy so much, I didn’t want to give up anybody else’s privacy.”

The Dune: Part Two star and Vanessa, 35, embarked on a beautiful relationship from 2011 to 2020. Fans were shocked and saddened to learn about their split and the former couple has since danced around the topic of their breakup.

Austin discussed his Elvis role during a 2023 Hollywood Reporter Actors Roundtable conversation and revealed that Vanessa planted the seed in his head to portray the King of rock ‘n’ roll on screen. However, he referred to the Spring Breakers actress as a “friend” and fans slammed him for his choice of words.

“The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend, and 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 explained before reflecting on the time he played the piano and sang in front of Vanessa and a group of friends. “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.'”

Austin Butler on Why He Called Ex Vanessa Hudgens a ‘Friend’ — Getty

Fans called Austin out for seemingly snubbing Vanessa, who told the exact same story during a 2019 appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan. The California native, for her part, gushed that she knew Austin was a modern-day Elvis when he died his natural blonde locks dark brown.

“Then in January, he was sitting at the piano,” she explained during the daytime talk show. “And he’s playing and he’s singing and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, but you need to figure out how you can play Elvis. Like, I don’t know how we get rights or what we do, but you need to play him.’”

Deal of the Day

This ‘Slimming’ Suit is Just $16 Today! View Deal

Austin couldn’t shake off his Elvis accent after the biopic released in 2022, and Vanessa noticed. An Instagram account joked about Austin’s Memphis accent in a caption that read, “He went to the Lady Gaga school of Oscar campaign acting.” The Cali Water founder commented on the post, “Crying.”

Austin and Vanessa have since moved on and are in respective relationships. Us Weekly confirmed that the Bikeriders actor started dating his current girlfriend, Kaia Gerber, in October 2021. After keeping their romance out of the spotlight for a few months, Austin and Kaia, 22, went red carpet official at the Met Gala and looked blissfully in young love.