The Truth About Florence Pugh's Relationships
Find out what happened between her and Zach Braff, Will Poulter and more.
Florence Pugh is on top of the world, and she doesn't need a man there with her.
The Don't Worry Darling star is single after a romance with Zach Braff ended in 2022.
For nearly three years, the onetime Scrubs star and Black Widow actress enjoyed what appeared to be a totally happy romance—even while weathering the pandemic together, which they got through in part by co-fostering an adorable dog named Billie.
Though all might have seemed peaceful inside their relationship, they constantly came under fire from the outside thanks to their 21-year age difference (and his uncanny and bizarre resemblance to her actual father—seriously).
Following their split, she was rumored to date Will Poulter, which she shot down. It appears she's loving life with just her Aperol spritzes, thank you very much.
In any case, look back at her love life!
Related: Why Florence Pugh Refuses to Discuss Don't Worry Darling Sex Scenes
How did Florence Pugh meet Zach Braff?
No one is quite sure when Pugh and Braff started dating, but by most accounts, they seem to have met when Pugh appeared in Braff’s short film, In the Time It Takes to Get There, which was filmed in 2018. By April of 2019, the pair were snapped holding hands.
When did Zach Braff and Florence Pugh become Instagram official?
Even though they were generally assumed to be together as public sightings piled up, Pugh and Braff tried to keep their relationship on the down low for a long while. Not only did they refrain from discussing their relationship, but they also chose not to appear together on red carpets, even when attending the same events.
Pugh first hinted at their connection in December 2019 when Braff responded to one of her Instagram photos. Someone replied, “You’re 44 years old,” but Pugh swiftly defended her man by saying, “And yet he got it.” The next month, Braff showed how close they were by posting pics of Pugh after her Oscar nomination for the film Little Women and again when she got ready for the big night—which he, notably, did not attend with her. (She took her mom instead.)
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
Pugh finally officially confirmed their relationship in April 2020, when she posted a pic of a sleeping Braff with their shared dog Billie on Instagram.
Their relationship was still going strong in early 2022, with both lovebirds posting birthday tributes to each other this year on Instagram. In January, Braff said, “what a gift it is to know you. What a gift to the world it is that you were born.” Pugh called Braff a “magical person” in April.
What is the age difference between Zach Braff and Florence Pugh?
Braff is 21 years older than Pugh. Their age difference was mentioned several times by fans, leading Pugh to defend her relationship more than once.
What has Florence Pugh said about her relationship with Zach Braff?
She first took to Instagram in April 2020 to address mean-spirited and negative comments left on her birthday post for Braff. “It is not your place and really, it has nothing to do with you...abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you throw at me,” she said in a since-deleted video.
Pugh told Elle UK magazine that she finds all the haters ragging on her romantic relationship to be “bizarre," going on to tell Sue Perkins on her podcast in July, "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?” She continued, “I'm 24 and I can't choose who I love? There's a reason why I'm not with someone my age–it hasn't worked."
Last month, Pugh said that people just don’t expect her to be dating someone like Braff. “I think it bugs people that it’s not who they expected,” she told The Sunday Times. “But it’s my life and I’m not doing anything to please people or to make it a better headline or story.”
What has Zach Braff said about his relationship with Florence Pugh?
Braff has stayed mostly quiet about his relationship with the new MCU star—partly because he doesn't think he could express himself any better than Pugh's already done. He told Mr. Porter Magazine that after Pugh posted her April 2020 Instagram video in defense of their romance, “I thought, ‘How could I possibly follow anything as intelligent and articulate as that?’ So, I chose not to."
Are Florence Pugh and Zach Braff secretly married?
While there’s nothing official, there were rumors and raised eyebrows over Pugh and Braff’s marital status while they were together. Celebrity gossip hound Deuxmoi cited a source who suspected the couple had married between Christmas and New Year’s Day in 2020. A friend then called Pugh “FPB” in an Instagram post back in January, which fans immediately took to mean "Florence Pugh Braff." Then in March, Braff was seen wearing a ring on his left-hand ring finger. Despite the alleged evidence, the couple never commented on the issue before their split.
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Did Zach and Florence break up?
Braff and Pugh split, though the timeline of their breakup isn't exact, but she was heartbroken over the relationship ending.
“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 told Harper’s Bazaar in August 2022. “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.”
Who did Zach Braff date before Florence Pugh?
Taylor Bagley
Braff and model Taylor Bagley had an age difference of 12 years and dated for five years before ending the relationship in 2014, when she was 27 and he was 39.
Mandy Moore
Braff also dated pop singer and This is Us star Mandy Moore for over two years, breaking it off in 2006 when Moore was about 22 and Braff was 31. Interestingly, the two separated because, according to one source, “They both decided that after two years, Mandy was a little young.” Moore said the breakup was like icing “on a really bad cake. The burned cake.”
Will Zach Braff and Florence Pugh work together again?
The couple worked together on the upcoming film A Good Person in 2021. The film was written and directed by Braff. Pugh will star opposite Morgan Freeman.
Are Florence Pugh and Will Poulter together?
Nope! Pugh and Poulter are simply longtime platonic pals. The Midsommar co-stars were rumored to be dating after they were photographed at the beach together—but they weren't there alone.
“Ooookay. Man. This is getting a little silly now," Pugh wrote on her Instagram Story in May 2022 (via Us Weekly). "No, Will Poulter and I are not dating. We went to the beach with our friends, who are always about half a metre [sic] away from us in every picture, but have been cleverly cut out/framed out so that it looks otherwise. You can LITERALLY see my best friend in the corner of so many shots and Archie [Madekwe]‘s arms at the sides.”
Next, meet the Spy Kids star who grew up to be Meghan Trainor's "future husband!"