Austin Butler Breaks His Silence On Vanessa Hudgens Breakup: ‘Life Is Full Of Changes’

Kelby Vera

May 25, 2022 9:03AM EDT

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

The ‘Elvis’ actor played it cool when asked about his ex. The duo split up in 2020 after nearly a decade together.

Moving on. Austin Butler, 30, touched on his breakup with Vanessa Hudgens, 33, in a new interview for GQ, published Wednesday, May 25, 2022. The Elvis actor admitted, “Life is full of changes” when asked about the split in the profile.

The star, who will be playing titular crooner Elvis Presley in an upcoming Baz Lurhmann biopic, chose his words carefully, revealing, “Life is full of changes, and you’ve got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing.” He left it at that.

Austin Butler broke his silence on his 2020 split from longtime girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens in a new interview. The pair are seen at the 2019 Vasnity Fair Oscar Party. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)

Austin and the High School Musical actress were together from 2011 to 2020. At the time of their split, insiders told HollywoodLife that long-distance was too much for the working pair. “They had to spend too much time apart the last few months, that’s what did it. Vanessa was so busy with back-to-back projects that she was hardly home. And Austin has been just as busy with work,” they revealed, later adding, “It’s really sad because they truly love each other. But it’s one of the hard realities of this business, it is very hard on relationships.”

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Since her split from Austin, Vaness has moved on. She’s been dating MLB star Cole Tucker since the start of 2021 and things seem to be going great for the duo. An insider told HollywoodLife, “Cole treats Vanessa like a queen, he adores her. He has been very serious about her from the get-go and that has not wavered. He adores her and says all the time that she is his dream girl, it’s sweet.”

The star is doing press ahead of the premiere of the Baz Lurhmann Elvis biopic, which he stars in. (Eric Ray Davidson/GQ)

Meanwhile, Austin has been spotted with model Kaia Gerber, 20, several times in months past. Making their status all but obvious, they were seen holding hands at a Mar. 2022 event held by W Magazine. Still, he kept coy when asking about that relationship, telling the interviewer,” I don’t think there’s anything I want to share about that. But thank you for providing the space.”