by Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler ~literally~ crossed paths at an Oscars party on Sunday, and it looked as awkward as you’d expect.
If you need a reminder, the two actors started dating in 2011, cementing themselves as a beloved power couple in the nine years they’ve been together.
As I’m sure you’re aware, Austin’s career has received a major boost over the past year due to his widely acclaimed portrayal of Elvis Presley – a role he’s previously credited Vanessa with encouraging him to take on during their relationship.
When Austin was cast in the role in July 2019, Vanessa publicly celebrated his career milestone. However, they concluded by saying that he is calling it quits just six months later in January 2020.
This was around the time that Elvis began production in Australia, and there are many reports suggesting that the demands of the film may have contributed to their split.
Now, fast forward a few years, and Austin is the man of the moment from his back Elvisis very successful and is dating model Kaia Gerber.
Meanwhile, Vanessa is newly engaged to her partner, MLB player Cole Tucker, and – in addition to making fun of her ex’s lingering attraction down south in January, after calling him out for failing to properly credit her for helped him get the role – he stayed. pretty quiet on Austin’s career moves.
And so, with all that context in mind, fans couldn’t help but get excited about the possibility of a full-circle reunion between the exes at the Oscars on Sunday, where Austin was nominated for Best Actor and Vanessa was present. as a red carpet presenter for ABC’s pre-show.
Unfortunately – and perhaps on purpose – Austin didn’t interview Vanessa on the red carpet, instead talking to her co-host Ashley Graham, meaning fans were starting to lose hope that they’d ever see them cross paths.
However, the prayers were finally answered on Monday morning when a Photo appeared online showing Austin and Vanessa standing close to each other outside the Vanity Fair Oscar party later that night.
Based on the smile on Austin’s face as Vanessa stood to the side in front of him, at first it looked like they recognized each other. But, a few hours later, a video of the moment surfaced online, revealing that things didn’t turn out as cordial as we first thought.
In the video secured by Entertainment Tonightit’s clear the two didn’t interact at all, with Vanessa just walking by while Austin waved to fans.
As she approaches him, you can see Vanessa’s eyes flick to Austin for a split second, but she quickly puts her head down and keeps her focus glued to her phone as she walks — likely in an attempt to avoid being spotted.
Of course, no one can say for sure if he was actually ignoring him — although it’s probably fair to say he was at least aware of his presence, especially given the fact that crowds of fans can be heard shouting his name from across the street.
In vertically truncated version of the video, which has been widely circulated online, Austin can be seen observing Vanessa after passing her. However, many fans have shared it uncut versionin which you can see that Austin is actually greeting someone else.
Of course, it didn’t take long for the footage to send the internet into a frenzy, with fans taking to Twitter in droves to react.
One of the overwhelming feelings in response to the video was how sad it was to see that the exes – believed to have split on good terms – didn’t even recognize each other.
“To date someone for a decade and then act like this is so crazy and depressing,” one person he tweeted, garnering more than 42,000 likes. “Like faking the stranger with someone you were friends with in high school is fine, but raw like you spent your entire 20s with each other, it’s crazy.”
They added: “It’s not me saying this is wrong, I would do it in this exact situation (and I will) it’s just very sad in this circumstance.”
“Crazy how you can be with someone for a decade and then be complete strangers” He wrote another person in agreement.
And they weren’t the only ones to echo that sentiment, with one user adding that “we all know that feeling” of an awkward run-in with an ex or old friend.
With that in mind, avoiding an ex in public isn’t exactly unusual – especially when you both have new partners – so many people were quick to say that they probably would have taken a similar approach.
“She’s so me, she’s so real about it. Except I wouldn’t have even looked,” one user commented.
Obviously, it goes without saying that we’ll never really know what the context of the situation is, with one fan stressing that it’s just “adults act like adults.”
Although it certainly seems Vanessa wants no part of the drama, hotly retweeting a clip from the Oscars telecast where Malala Yousafzai answered a question about Harry Styles and Chris Pine by telling host Jimmy Kimmel that she was only talking about “Irene. “
“Let’s all be on the ‘I speak only for peace’ train.” Okay?” Vanessa urged her followers on Instagram on Monday.
And with that, I think it’s safe to say case closed.
