Vanessa Hudgens opens up about her relationship with Zac Efron that defined love for the 90s kids
Looks like it's not just Ariana Grande who's grateful for her ex. Vanessa Hudgens has opened up about her relationship with her 'High School Musical' co-star Zac Efron, nine years after the relationship came to an end in 2010. The romance looked almost as sweet as the musical itself to most fans, setting unrealistic standards and expectations from love and relationships for most millennials who were naive teenagers hooked to the movie series then.
In an interview with E! Online, Hudgens said that she's "grateful" to have dated her 'High School Musical' co-star, especially when she was navigating her new-found fame. "I could not have been more grateful to have that relationship at the time," she said recalling the pressures of the huge success of the movies.
"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," she was quoted as saying.
Things have changed drastically since HSM initially released on 20 January 2006, with both the stars moving on with their lives and dating other people. The Disney stars started dating a year after the release of the first movie and called it quits in 2010, four years after they got together.
So are we, the 90s kids, thankful for Gabriella and Troy's on-screen romance that defined how we would view love and relationships for years to come? Blinded by the rosy picture painted by Disney's many hits designed for the teenage audience, we blissfully overdosed on reruns of 'Hannah Montana', 'Suite Life of Zack and Cody', 'Austin and Ally', 'That's So Raven' and many other such shows, hoping to get transported to their picture-perfect world.
"HSM painted the fairy tale version of what a high school relationship could be. It was our version of the John Hughes films of the 80s and perpetuated the trend of the popular/Jock guy falling for the outcast/new/nerdy girl," said Abid Abdulla, who was super-enthusiastic about the movie series as a teenager.
Hudgens said in her interview that the relationship was not without its own problems, although these did not reflect on-screen.
The star takes pride in being professional even when there were fights. She said: "I was like that aside we are going to move forward and do what we need to do...and we sorted it all out. I think because I was so young, I think that relationship stabilized me."
Disney fans still swoon over Zanessa, but most of us have grown out of it and soaked in some reality. "HSM was a big influence, I watched it and learned all the songs too! It's true that I expected rainbows out of my boyfriends in school, but soon I realized that these movies were nothing like real life," said Mia Lavoie, a religious follower of Disney TV shows and the HSM movies.
Twitterati is also reminiscing the Disney couple post the interview. "ZAC EFRON AND VANESSA HUDGENS WILL ALWAYS BE MY OTP!!!" wrote a Twitter user.