Exes Austin Butler And Vanessa Hudgens Avoid Eye Contact Leaving Oscars 2023 Afterparty

The 2023 Oscars was a night full of celebrations, but Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens' night ended in an awkward encounter. 

The two began dating in 2011 and went on to have a relationship for more than eight years. During their time together Hudgens called Butler the "love of [her] life" and the source of her inspiration. Because of their busy respective acting careers, Butler and Hudgens often had to maintain a long-distance relationship, but they did their best to make it work. Unfortunately, Butler and Hudgens broke off their long relationship in January 2020. A source told People that their "busy work schedules and travel definitely put a strain on the relationship." However, the insider also shared that Butler and Hudgens had "really loved each other" throughout their time together.

Hudgens went on to date Cole Tucker, to whom she's now engaged, while Butler moved on with model Kaia Gerber. With the industry being so small, it was only a matter of time before Butler and Hudgens ran into each other, and their Oscars afterparty run-in proved that there may still be tension between them.

Vanessa Hudgens managed to avoid interviewing Austin Butler on the champagne carpet during ABC's "Countdown to the Oscars" pre-show, but she wasn't so lucky at the Vanity Fair afterparty. Butler was in attendance with Kaia Gerber, while Hudgens was there sans Cole Tucker. Standing outside the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Butler was spotted waving to cameras with Hudgens mere steps away from him. But the two seemed to avoid each other as the "High School Musical" star kept her head down (above).

Perhaps Butler and Hudgens felt awkward after publicly throwing some shade at each other. In January, Butler shared in a roundtable discussion with other actors that a "friend" had encouraged him to try out for his "Elvis" role, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It turned out that "friend" was actually Hudgens. He later fessed up in another interview and named his ex-girlfriend as the one who gave him the push. That same month, Hudgens threw shade back when an Instagram user poked fun of Butler's Elvis Presley accent and wrote, "He went to the Lady Gaga school of Oscar campaign acting." Hudgens' reply was, "Crying." Despite Butler and Hudgens both moving on, it seems as if there's still some bad blood between the two exes.