Austin Butler Defends His Comments About 'Friend' Vanessa Hudgens

The 32-year-old Dune: Part Two star was asked in the March issue of Esquire magazine about the criticism he got after referring to Hudgens as a "friend," despite them having been in a serious, nine-year long relationship.

"Oh, yeah, I learned a lesson with that one," Butler admitted. "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. 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."

During the media rounds for his Best Actor campaign, the actor referred to his ex while discussing his Oscar-nominated Elvis role during a 2023 Hollywood Reporter Actors Roundtable.

"The month before I heard that [Director 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.'"

The actor continued the story, referring to Hudgens as "friend" again.

"A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano," he said. "I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. 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.'"

Butler of course went on to star as the lead role in Luhrmann's Elvis which catapulted his career into superstardom, earning him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the music icon.

Unfortunately for Butler, the internet has its receipts -- and what he thought was just an innocent story, blew up in his face.

Some on social media unearthed a video of Hudgens on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019; Hudgens and Butler were still together at the time and the 35-year-old told the exact same story -- but she referred to then-boyfriend Butler as "babe."

"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,'" she told the talk show hosts.

"Then in January, he was sitting at the piano," she added. "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.'"

Butler and Hudgens dated from 2011 to 2020. Both have since moved on; Hudgens is now married to Cole Tucker while Butler is dating Kaia Gerber.

When asked by Esquire about his current relationship, Butler remained tight-lipped on the subject -- only telling the mag, "I'm happy."