Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens dated for 9 years. Here's what their lives look like now.

Navigating how to talk about an ex is always complicated. But referring to your former partner of nine years as a "friend" who encouraged you to pursue the role you are now almost certainly going to be Oscar-nominated for... well, that's a whole other level.

Austin Butler, the man who exploded onto screens as Elvis Presley and then forgot that he is from Southern California rather than Tennessee, has found himself in that very particular pickle.

On January 11, The Hollywood Reporter released its latest Actor Roundtable conversation, featuring this year's awards frontrunners, including Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan, Jeremy Pope, Adam Sandler and Butler.

Watch: The Elvis trailer. Post continues below video.

Recalling how he came to play the King of Rock and Roll in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Butler told a story:

"So I was looking at Christmas lights and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was with a friend of mine," he said (in his Elvis voice, no less).

"I was singing along and my friend looked over at me and said, 'You gotta play Elvis.'

"I said, 'That's such a long shot... and then a couple of weeks later I was playing the piano and I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. My same friend was there, and I was playing the piano and she said, 'I'm serious, you've got to figure out how you can get the rights to a script and like, write something."

Fans quickly realised that Butler, 31, was referring to Vanessa Hudgens, 34, who he dated from 2011 until 2020, because she had previously told the exact same story.

"Last December we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on," Hudgens said on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019.

"He'd just dyed his hair dark - he's a natural blonde - and I was looking at him as he was singing along and I was like, 'Babe, you need to play Elvis. I don't know how but like, I'm serious, you need to play him.'

"Then in January he was sitting at the piano and he's playing and he's singing and I'm like, 'I don’t know how, but we need to figure out how you can play Elvis. Like, I don't know how to get rights or what we do, but you need to play him, it is your calling.

"That next month we get a call saying Baz Luhrmann is doing the Elvis biopic and I was like, 'Babe, this is it.'"

Awkward. 

Butler and Hudgens broke up in January 2020, six months after Butler was announced as the star of the Luhrmann film.

Want to know what they've been up to since their split? From new relationships to lots of accolades, here's what Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens' lives look like now.

Austin Butler.

The Elvis role, which Hudgens may or may not have manifested, has completely changed the life (and voice) of Butler.

Elvis premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where the film received a 12-minute standing ovation from the audience, the longest at the year's festival. 

His performance received critical acclaim, as well as plenty of praise from Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, who have frequented premieres and award shows with Butler and Luhrmann.

Butler "channeled and embodied my father's heart and soul beautifully," Lisa Marie wrote on Instagram ahead of the film release. 

"In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully." 

In January 2023, Butler won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for the film. He is also nominated for a slew of other awards, including at the Critics Choice and SAG awards.

He is also expected to receive an Oscar nomination when they are announced on January 24.

No matter how those additional nominations go, Butler will remain busy in 2023.

He will next star in Masters of the Air, a World War II drama miniseries, as well as Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part 2 and a motorcycle club drama called The Bikeriders.

He has been dating model Kaia Gerber, the 21-year-old daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and her husband Randy Gerber, since late 2021 (in a weird coincidence, Kaia's brother is named Presley - yup, after Elvis).

In May 2022, Butler and Gerber made their red carpet debut at the Met Gala.

Image: Getty.

Gerber also attended the Elvis premiere to support him, and she was captured congratulating him backstage after his Golden Globe win.

But mostly, the pair keep their relationship low-key in the public eye.

In a June 2022 cover story for GQ, Butler commented on his split from Hudgens and new relationship for the first time, basically to say he would not talk about them again.

"Life is full of changes, and you’ve got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing," he said, when asked about Hudgens.

Asked about paparazzi pics that pointed to his and Gerber dating, he said:

"I go, 'If I don’t see the picture, then it doesn't really exist to me.' I don't want to be really negative, but there's hardly any job I despise more than paparazzi."

And on the actual relationship?

"I don't think there's anything I want to share about that," he said. "But thank you for providing the space."

Vanessa Hudgens.

Hudgens has also remained booked and busy.

In 2020, she appeared in the third Bad Boys movie, Bad Boys for Life, and she played three different characters in Netflix's The Princess Switch Christmas trilogy, released between 2018-2021 (she should've received her own Oscar for this range, but I digress), and dabbled in voice work.

She's co-founded a line of ready-to-drink cocktails and a skincare line, plus, found a talent and passion for hosting, including the 94th Academy Awards' red carpet pre-show, Vogue's Met Gala red carpet, and the 30th MTV Movie & TV Awards, all in 2022.

Next, Hudgens will voice a character in Zack Snyder's upcoming Netflix series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, star in film Downtown Owl, and lead and executive produce trucker adventure-drama film Big Rig. 

She has been dating baseballer Cole Tucker, 26, since late 2020, after meeting in a Zoom meditation group organised by Joe Jonas. 

They confirmed their relationship publicly with a Valentine's Day post in 2021 and made their red carpet debut at the premiere of Hudgens' movie Tick, Tick… Boom! nearly one year after they started dating. 

Image: Getty.

In April 2021, she told Entertainment Tonight she was really happy.

"He's just kind of perfect for me. I am [happy]. I really am."

In a September 2022 cover story for Nylon, Hudgens discussed being famous for half her life, with a nod to her two major long-term relationships, with High School Musical co-star Zac Efron, of course, and Butler.

"The public only sees so much," she said

"I've also been through two very long life-changing relationships, and no one really knows what happened except for me. 

"When I write my memoir, it'll be amazing."

Feature image: Getty.

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