Florence Pugh Admits the Criticism About Her Former Age-Gap Relationship With Zach Braff Was 'Nasty'
Florence Pugh’s three-year relationship with Zach Braff was fairly off the Hollywood radar when it came to the paparazzi, but fans were not thrilled by their 21-year age gap. The critics chimed in often to voice their opinion, and Pugh is now revealing how much the negative words impacted their romance.
The Don’t Worry Darling star would prefer that her love life stay out of the headlines. Yet the moment she and Braff began dating in 2019, the commentary began. “I had to be public in the past because people were bullying me and bullying my partner,” she told British Vogue in a Wednesday, Sept. 18 cover story. “Mine and Zach’s relationship was actually quite private until it was nasty, and I could see the toll that it was taking on him and us and our families.” The relentless criticism spurred her to make an Instagram video defending her then-boyfriend.
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“I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love, and I would never in my life ever, ever tell someone who they can and cannot love,” she stated in an April 2020 post. “It is not your place. And really it has nothing to do with you … The abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you throw at me.” Braff praised Pugh in an interview with MR PORTER’s digital magazine, The Journal, in November 2020 for her kind words. “She literally sat down, hit record on her phone, and said that,” he recalled. “I thought: how could I possibly follow anything as intelligent and articulate as that? So, I chose not to.”
At the time, she was 24 years old, and he was 45 years old, and while the age gap was uncomfortable for many people, it wasn’t for them. Still, love doesn’t always conquer all — Pugh divulged that they had split in an August 2022 feature for Harper’s Bazaar. “We’ve been trying to do this separation without the world knowing because it’s been a relationship that everybody has an opinion on,” Pugh said. “We just felt something like this would really do us the benefit of not having millions of people telling us how happy they are that we’re not together. So, we’ve done that. I automatically get a lumpy throat when I talk about it.”
Pugh didn’t regret fighting for her love when she was with Braff because she felt like it was the right thing to do. “I think for anyone I’m with, I want to protect them. It’s not nice knowing that people are saying the worst things I’ve ever read about someone that I love,” she noted to British Vogue. “So that was necessary. I needed to talk about it. I think any relationship in this limelight is going to be stressed.” And yes, she’s dating again, but admitted that she is giving herself a beat “to take time to let something evolve.” Pugh will let us know if and when she’s ready to share more.
Before you go, click here to see famous men who routinely date women half their age.
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