Vanessa Hudgens almost “gave up” on dating after her split from Austin Butler in January 2020. Less than a year later, she met her future husband in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I remember in quarantine I was like, Cool, I’m single now and I can’t meet anybody, so I guess I’ll go on a dating app,” Hudgens said during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in May 2021. “But I always said I would never go on a dating app, and then I found myself on a dating app and I was like, ‘I hate myself!’”
Turns out, Hudgens wouldn’t meet MLB player Cole Tucker on Raya, but in a weekly Zoom meditation group during the lockdown. “I’m such a go-getter. If I want something or someone, I’m going after him,” she continued. “I fully just slid into his DMs and was like, ‘Hey, it was nice to meet you.’ I think there’s no shame in making the first move. If you want it, why wait for someone else to give you what you want?”
Here’s a complete timeline of Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker’s relationship.
January 2020: A source confirms to Us Weekly that Butler and Hudgens have split after nine years. “Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” the insider said in mid-January.
January 14, 2020: Hudgens makes her first appearance since her breakup on the red-carpet at the premiere of Bad Boys for Life. It’s a mood.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty Images
March 2020–January 2021: Hudgens and Tucker meet in a Zoom meditation group sometime during the COVID-19 lockdown.
During the lockdown, a friend invited her to join their weekly Zoom meditation group and text chain with everyone from Joe Jonas to Wilmer Valderrama. “Everyone’s sending, like, GIFs of themselves,” she told Barrymore in May 2021. “Then there’s, like, a GIF in the group chat of a baseball player, and he’s slamming onto a base and I thought it was a joke. So I just responded, ‘Hot.’” It turned out to be a gif of Tucker, who was in their next Zoom meeting.
