Austin Butler defends calling ex Vanessa Hudgens a ‘friend’

movie

TO Nicky Cox

Austin Butler meant no disrespect when he called ex Vanessa Hudgens, whom he dated for nearly a decade, nothing more than an old “friend” during an interview last year.

Speaking to Esquire, the “Elvis” actor explained that he’s not trying to downplay her role in his life, but rather shield her from additional media attention.

“Oh yeah, I learned my lesson,” the 32-year-old said when asked about the label in an interview published Tuesday.

“I felt like I kind of respected her privacy and didn’t want to bring up a bunch of stuff that she would have to talk about,” the Oscar nominee continued.

“I feel so much love and care for her. “This was in no way an attempt to erase anything.”

Butler noted that the couple had been together “for a long time” and told the publication that he “didn’t want to give up anyone’s privacy” because he “very much values” his own.

The clarification comes just over a year after the “Dune” star came under fire for apparently insulting the “High School Musical” alum, whom he began dating in 2011, during the magazine’s 2023 Actors Roundtable Hollywood Reporter.

When asked if it had always been his dream to play the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Butler revealed that an unnamed “friend” convinced him to pursue the role.

“A month before I heard that (director) Baz (Luhrmann) was making a movie (Elvis), I was going with a friend to look at Christmas lights,” the Golden Globe winner explained.

“And Elvis’s Christmas song came on the radio and I was singing along, and my friend looked at me and said, ‘You should play Elvis!’”

Although Butler thought it was a “low probability,” the unnamed pal, aka Hudgens, continued to press him.

“A couple of weeks later I was playing the piano,” he continued at the time. “I never really sang for any of my friends or anything.”

“This same friend was there and I was playing the piano. She said, “I’m serious. You need to figure out how to get the rights to the script.”

A few days later, Butler’s agent called to say Luhrmann was making a film about the “Jailhouse Rock” singer.

“And the hair on my arms just stood on end,” he recalled.

Although Butler never mentioned Hudgens, 35, by name, fans quickly realized he was talking about the Spring Breakers actress, as she previously told the same story during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

“Last December we were driving and listening to Christmas music, and then Elvis Presley’s Christmas song came on,” she told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in August 2019 — a month after her then-boyfriend landed the role.

“He just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blonde and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I thought, “Baby, you need to do Elvis.”

She became even more convinced that Butler was right for the job after hearing him sing while playing the piano a month later.

“And he plays and he sings, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, but you need to figure out how you can play Elvis,’” she recalls. “I don’t know how we get the rights or what we do, but you need to play it.”

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Although Hudgens saw her dream come true, the couple split in January 2020 — around the same time Butler headed to Australia to film the Oscar-nominated film.

Despite his initial disdain, Butler later credited his ex for encouraging him to try out for the role.

“I was with my partner at the time,” he told the Los Angeles Times weeks after facing backlash over the apparent disagreement.

“We’ve been together for so long and she had this moment of clarity and so I really owe her a lot for believing in me.”

Both Hudgens and Butler have since split, and the Airbenders star is now dating model Kaia Gerber. Meanwhile, the Princess Change actress recently married baseball player Cole Tucker.