It’s over. Vanessa Hudgens and her boyfriend, Austin Butler, are officially broken up after almost nine years of dating, a source tells Us Weekly on January 14. “Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” the insider confirms. Rumors have been swirling since the two seemingly did not spend the holidays together — including a luxe trip to Switzerland that Vanessa took.
Austin, 28, and Vanessa, 31, met in 2005 on the set of High School Musical, according to the Daily Mail. But they weren’t romantically linked until late 2011 and early 2012 — after Vanessa split from ex-boyfriend Zac Efron. She and Austin made their first red carpet appearance together in 2012 and things seemed to be going well. On February 14, 2019, Vanessa shared a photo of the duo and captioned it, “7 years strong 
.” Sadly, it sounds like they just couldn’t make their long-term relationship work any longer.
For a while, it appeared that this was one Hollywood couple that might actually go the distance. Back in August, Vanessa exclusively revealed to Life & Style what she thought is the key to making a relationship work. “Communication, trust and patience,” the former Disney channel actress said.
As for the Switched at Birth actor, he told in 2015, “I think you just have to — it’s important to put that other person first. If you’re constantly looking for ways that you can make them happy, and they’re constantly looking for ways that they can make you happy, then you kind of lift each other up as much as possible and you can’t go wrong.”
All along, Vanessa and Austin appeared to be each other’s biggest fans. The actor told during the Once Upon a Time premiere on July 22, “It’s hard for me to even put into words what that girl means to me. I am so inspired by her every day and I just love her to my core.”
Vanessa was just as supportive of her partner when they attended the event together. The same day, she shared a photo of the now-former lovebirds on Instagram and captioned it, “And we’re OFF!!!! To the @onceinhollywood premiere with my man of the hour @austinbutler.”
And when Austin’s birthday rolled around in August, Vanessa had nothing but love for her man. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY 
to my love, my other half, my constant inspiration and supporter. My best friend. My everything
@austinbutler ,” she wrote on a picture of the two of them on Instagram on August 17. “28 is going to be 
.”
So what went wrong? It seems as though things just ran their course but time will tell.