Austin Butler is offering an explanation as to why he didn’t name-drop his ex Vanessa Hudgens in his viral Actors Roundtable interview.
During a January 2023 discussion for The Hollywood Reporter, Butler, 32, recalled how “a friend” inspired him to portray Elvis Presley not long before he took on the role of the musician in director Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic, Elvis. Fans were quick to piece together that the friend in question was Hudgens, 35, causing people to criticize Butler for downplaying her role in helping him get cast in the film, which scored him an Oscar nod for Best Actor.
“Oh, yeah, I learned a lesson with that one,” Butler said of the backlash in an interview with Esquire published on Tuesday, February 6. “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 continued: “I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything.” Butler noted that since he values his “own privacy so much,” he “didn’t want to give up anybody else’s privacy.”
Butler and Hudgens dated for nine years before calling it quits in 2020. “Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly one month after the two sparked split rumors.
Hudgens, who tied the knot with baseball player Cole Tucker in December 2023, publicly congratulated her now-ex on his Presley casting back in July 2019. “I AMMMM OVERRRR THE F–KING MOOOOOOOOONNNNN. I CANT WAIT 😍😍😍😍😍😍,” she captioned a pic of the casting announcement via Instagram. “SO PROUD OF MY HONEYYYYY!!!”
She also shared the same story about suggesting that Butler play Presley that he mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter interview. “Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” she shared during an August 2019 appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan. “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.’”
Butler, for his part, noted in the THR discussion that Hudgens further pushed him to pursue the role of Presley after hearing him sing and play piano. “She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script,’” he recalled. “Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.”
Butler later clarified Hudgens’ identity as his unnamed friend. “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,” he told the Los Angeles Times in January 2023.
Butler ultimately lost the 2023 Best Actor Oscar to The Whale’s Brendan Fraser. In a video obtained by Us in March 2023, Hudgens appeared to ignored Butler while walking past him and Sharon Stone on the street after the awards ceremony.
Hudgens seemingly reacted to the awkward encounter not long after, writing via her Instagram Story, “Let’s all be on the ‘I only talk about peace’ train. OK?”
Following his split from Hudgens, Butler moved on with Kaia Gerber. The duo started dating in December 2021.
