Wait, what team? Ashley Tisdale threw fans for a loop with her lengthy, heartfelt celebration of Vanessa Hudgens‘ ex-boyfriend Austin Butler on his 30th birthday.
“Wow @austinbutler I can’t believe your 30!!! Welcome to the club buddy!” the Suite Life of Zack & Cody alum, 36, gushed in a sweet Instagram post on Tuesday, August 17. “You’ve been my best friend since you were 15 so that’s 15 years strong of friendship! I am beyond proud of you and everything you’re accomplishing but most importantly proud of the person you are.”
The former Carrie Diaries star has been Tisdale’s “closest friend through the years,” she continued. “You’re the type of friend that came over when I was crying on the floor from a horrible breakup and not only lifted me off the ground but brought my favorite candy 😭 I honestly didn’t think anyone would ever understand me like you but then enter my husband [Christopher French] and You happily embraced him like a brother. There’s no one like you Austin, you’re my twin born 7 years later 😉.”
Tisdale reflected on sharing the screen with her BFF back in 2011, teasing, “Ps remember that one time I convinced you to be in my Disney movie Sharpays fabulous adventure well look at you now!!”
Some fans were surprised by the New Jersey native’s history with Butler, who sparked a romance with Hudgens, now 32, in September 2011. Us Weekly broke the news of the pair’s split in January 2020.
“Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” a source revealed at the time.
Before they called it quits, the Princess Switch actress gushed over her bond with Butler, but explained why she wasn’t in a rush to walk down the aisle.
“I want to get married, travel, then have kids — probably in my late 30s,” she told Women’s Health in November 2018. “Everyone’s clock is different.”
The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star was a big inspiration to Hudgens, she said at the time, adding, “We both respect, trust and admire each other. It’s so solid now because I feel strong as an independent woman. I am very self-reliant, but it’s nice to have a best friend you can share victories with as well as losses.”
Earlier this month, Butler was spotted kissing Lily-Rose Depp in London. Hudgens, for her part, moved on with MLB athlete Cole Tucker in late 2020.
