The Gist
Vanessa Hudgens got nostalgic while sharing rare comments about her first impression of ex-boyfriend Zac Efron.
Hudgens opened up about her “chemistry” with her High School Musical co-star during a recent Magical Rewind podcast episode.
Hudgens and Efron dated from 2005 to 2010.
Vanessa Hudgens might be happily married to former baseball player Cole Tucker with the couple’s second baby on the way, but the Disney Channel alum took fans on a nostalgic trip down relationship memory lane by reflecting on one of her most highly-publicized past relationships. Hudgens—who was also previously linked to Austin Butler and Josh Hutcherson— shared rare comments about her “chemistry” with ex-boyfriend Zac Efron during their early High School Musical days.
Both Hudgens and Efron became household names overnight during their star turn in the Disney franchise, in which they played on-screen couple Gabriella and Troy. Meanwhile, in real life, the Spring Breakers actress dated Efron from 2005 to 2010—and according to Hudgens, the attraction was instant. While making a recent appearance on the Magical Rewind podcast, Hudgens opened up about meeting the Baywatch actor for the first time while chatting with Bart Johnson (who played Troy’s dad, Coach Bolton) in the films.
“I guess I was 15. I had done a pilot for Disney Channel called The Bus Life with Keke Palmer. It didn’t get picked up, and I had auditioned for Disney a bunch,” she shared, revealing that she wasn’t hopeful during the audition process. “I was like, ‘It’s never gonna happen for me.’ And this audition came up for High School Musical, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to go. I’m not going to get it.’”
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Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and Monique Coleman attend a photo call for “High School Musical” in May 2006
Hudgens admitted she “begrudgingly” went into the audition, and got a callback after she sang either “’Angels’ by Jessica Simpson or ‘Reflection’ from Mulan.” From there, she was “mixed and matched” with other hopeful actors, but her first partner was ultimately the perfect fit. “I got mixed up and I think I got put with Zac [Efron] right away,” she shared, adding, “Me and Zac did the scene together. I sang with him. I feel like he got paired up with somebody else as well. I don’t know. It all seems like such a blur.” She recalled, “I got the call, and they were like, ‘We want you to do it.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god. It’s finally happening.”
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Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens at a Lakers and Knicks game in 2008
Hudgens said that her background in musical theater made her “very excited” for the role, and it didn’t hurt that she already had a crush on her future co-star. “And then, of course, like, I was a child and paired with this boy, and I was like, ‘Oh my god. He’s so cute.’ So, like, the chemistry was so real,” she added.
Hudgens previously opened up about struggling with jealousy during their relationship, telling The New York Times in 2015, “I went through a phase when I was really mean because I was so fed up. Girls were running after him, and I was giving them death stares. Then I realized that’s not what that’s about.”
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Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens attend the ‘High School Musical 3: Senior Year’ Japan Premiere in 2009
Meanwhile, in hindsight, Hudgens said she was “grateful” for their relationship. In a 2019 podcast interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she reflected, “I could not have been more grateful to have that relationship at the time … It was this massive phenomenon and [all] eyes were on me. And it’s just a really weird foreign thing to go through, and by being in a relationship, it kind of kept me stabilized and grounded, and I had someone to lean on who was going through it as well,”
Read the original article on InStyle