Vanessa Hudgens is looking back at one of her old relationships! It’s not Austin Butler! We’re talking all the waaay back to when she dated Zac Efron!
During her former co-star Bart Johnson’s Get Your Head In The Game podcast on Wednesday, the actress made a super rare comment about her former boyfriend — including how the sparks were flying between them during their audition process for High School Musical as teens! Vanessa recalled that she either sang Angels by Jessica Simpson or Reflection from Mulan when she first tried out for the Disney Channel movie. Afterward, she got paired with Zac “right away” at a group casting event.
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They then made it to the final callback, and the rest was history. The Spring Breakers star said:
“There was one other girl there for Gabriella, one other guy there for Troy. We swapped, mixed and matched and yeah, that was it.”
We’re grateful for it! We couldn’t imagine anyone else as our Troy and Gabriella! Vanessa noted she was stoked when she got the role:
“Coming from a musical theater background, that was and still is where my heart remains. So, I was very excited.”
She was especially thrilled to work with Zac because she had a crush on him from day one! Aww! Vanessa shared:
“Of course I was a child and paired with this boy and I was like, ‘Oh my god, he’s so cute.’ The chemistry was so real.”
Even those cute glances at him during the karaoke scene in the first movie were “so real.” You know, the moment where they first meet and sing the Start of Something New on New Year’s Eve? Watch it again (below):
The sparks! Wow! Vanessa went on to express that their on-and-off-screen chemistry helped a lot with the film:
“Yeah, it really does [help], especially when you’re young and it’s all sweet and innocent. It’s so funny looking back, I was so innocent but I was also playing so innocent, so it was like the hat on the hat. Like, wow, she’s really pure. That totally was who I was, but the little rebellious teen side of me was like, ‘No, this isn’t me!’”
Fans not only got to watch a love story unfold between the characters, but IRL too! Vanessa and Zac began dating during filming in 2005. However, they broke up in 2010 — two years after the final High School Musical movie. Although the two aren’t together anymore, at least we’ll always have one of the best Disney Channel movie franchises from them! And now these rare remarks!
We did not expect Vanessa to talk about Zac in 2025, but we are here for it! Now all we need is for the former couple to appear on the podcast together! Make the reunion happen, Bart! LOLz! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Drop ‘em in the comments!
[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN, The Kelly Clarkson Show/YouTube]