Florence Pugh Says Scrutiny Over Relationship with Zach Braff Made Her 'Feel Like S—'
Florence Pugh is opening up about the difficulties in navigating criticism about her relationship with Zach Braff.
The Oscar-nominated actress appeared on the Sue Perkins: An hour or so with... podcast on Tuesday in which Pugh, 24, spoke about the Internet reactions she'd seen about her and Braff, 45, due to their age difference.
"I've always found it funny, how I can be good enough for people to watch my work and support my work and pay for tickets, and I'm old enough to be an adult and pay taxes, but I'm not old enough to know who I should and should not have sex with," Pugh told the host, Sue Perkins.
She continued, "Yet again, once again, it's making a young woman feel like s— for no reason."
Pugh defended her relationship to Braff in an interview with Elle UK in May. In April, the Little Women actress slammed her followers for criticizing the couple's age difference in a video in which she said the criticism "makes me upset."
"I think I did feel s— for a while for admitting that," Pugh told Perkins in the podcast. "And then I thought how ridiculous is that? I'm 24 and I can't choose who I love."
Pugh continued, "There's a reason why I'm not with someone my age — it hasn't worked. So, who are you trying to match me up with?"
"I think because of the entertainment industry, obviously those lines get very blurred," the actress added. "People want to have a say on who you go out with, where you go to lunch. I’ve just always found that weird, how people have a say over your private life."
"The fact is, I’m not a reality TV star, I don't let people into my life like that," Pugh said. "Since when has it been okay for people to shout at someone for their relationship? It’s crazy to me."
A post shared by Florence Pugh (@florencepugh) on Apr 6, 2020 at 9:58am PDT
Braff and Pugh have kept their relationship low-key and out of the public spotlight ever since they seemingly became close friends in 2018.
Pugh told Elle UK for its June issue that she had "the right to hang out and be with and go out with anyone I want to."
"I’ve always found this part of what people do really bizarre. I’m an actor because I like acting and I don’t mind people watching my stuff, but people have no right to educate me on my private life," she said at the time.
"I know that part of being in the spotlight is that people might invade your privacy and have opinions on it, but it’s bizarre that normal folk are allowed to display such hate and opinions on a part of my life that I’m not putting out there," Pugh continued.
"It’s a strange side of fame that you’re allowed to be torn apart by thousands of people even though you didn’t put that piece of you out there. My point to all this is that isn’t it odd that a stranger can totally tear apart someone’s relationship and it’s allowed?"
