The 'Bad Boys for Life' actress is seen walking past the 'Elvis' star, who is standing next to Sharon Stone while waiting for a car outside the star-studded bash.
- Mar 14, 2023
AceShowbiz - Vanessa Hudgens dodged her ex-boyfriend Austin Butler on Sunday night, March 12 as they attended the same party following the 2023 Academy Awards. The actress appeared to ignore the actor outside Vanity Fair's annual Oscars after-party.
In a video capturing the awkward moment, Austin was standing next to Sharon Stone while waiting for a car outside the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California. Vanessa appeared to notice her ex as she briefly looked at his direction, but kept looking down at her phone, seemingly in an attempt to avoid eye contact, as she walked past him. The "Elvis" star appeared to glance in Vanessa's direction as she dashed past him without making conversation.
It's unclear whether the former couple, who dated for nearly nine years from 2011 to 2020, spoke inside the party. Austin, who was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's biopic at the Academy Awards, attended the star-studded bash with his current girlfriend Kaia Gerber.
Earlier this year, Austin credited his ex Vanessa for inspiring him to audition for the "Elvis" role. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published in January, the 31-year-old said that the "High School Musical" alum supported him to seek out the role years ago when they were a couple. "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 said.
The former "The Carrie Diaries" star also confirmed that it was the "High School Musical" star that he was referring to as a "friend" when speaking in The Hollywood Reporter's Actors Roundtable. "That's right," he said when asked if he meant Vanessa, adding, "I was with my partner at the time."
During the THR conversation, Austin recalled how Vanessa encouraged him to pursue the role of Elvis, but didn't mention her name at the time. He said, "The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend. 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.' "
"A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano," he continued. "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.' "
