Totally smitten! Vanessa Hudgens’ boyfriend, Cole Tucker, gushed about their relationship while talking to reporters at spring training for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I got a girlfriend and she’s cool. She’s awesome, I love her,” the 24-year-old MLB player told the press on Friday, February 26, hinting that the 32-year-old actress will be attending his games during the upcoming 2021 season.
Tucker, who is a shortstop and outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, continued: “But I don’t want it to be, ‘Oh, Cole’s dating Vanessa …’ I don’t want it to be treated any differently than Mitch [Keller] having his wife down, or Ke’Bryan [Hayes] having his girlfriend come down. She’s great. She’ll be around. You will see her, but you saw the headline, it is what it is.”
Hudgens was first linked to the athlete in November 2020. The twosome made their relationship Instagram official on Valentine’s Day.
“It’s you, it’s me, it’s us. @cotuck,” the former Disney star captioned a photo kissing Tucker via Instagram.
The baseball player opted for a pic of the twosome cuddling in tie-dye for the holiday.
“Happy V day ❤️ @vanessahudgens,” he wrote on February 14.
Hudgens, who previously dated her High School Musical costar Zac Efron from 2006 to 2010, was in a long-term relationship with Austin Butler from 2011 to 2020. Us Weekly broke the news that the twosome called it quits that January.
“Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” an insider told Us at the time.
Hudgens was subsequently linked to Lakers player Kyle Kuzma, but their romance didn’t last.
“Kyle is known to be a player and is really smooth with girls,” an insider told Us in January 2020. “It’s been fun and distracting for Vanessa to talk to, flirt with and get attention from a new guy.”
Before she went public with Tucker, Hudgens opened up to Entertainment Tonight about what she’s looking for in a partner.
“I feel like at the end of the day, it’s just about having similar fundamentals and wanting the same things. I am not picky, really,” the actress said in November 2020. “I know what I want and I’m like, if someone comes into the picture and can give me all those things, then great. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the public eye or not. If anything, I prefer them not to be, but we’ll see.”