Winter blues. Vanessa Hudgens closed out 2019 filming Netflix’s The Princess Switch: Switched Again in Edinburgh, Scotland, amid her split from Austin Butler but working abroad has its downside.
“I mean, the things that I miss most are the people I love,” the High School Musical star, 31, admitted during her appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan on Friday, January 17.
Us Weekly broke the news on Tuesday, January 14, that Hudgens and the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star, 28, had split after nearly nine years together.
“Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” an insider told Us.
The pair, who began dating in September 2011, sparked speculation that they had called it quits after they didn’t appear to be spending the holidays together. The former couple were long-distance in the final months of their relationship as Hudgens filmed The Knight Before Christmas and The Princess Switch: Switched Again. Butler, for his part, has been prepping to portray Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic.
However, Hudgens wasn’t completely alone for one special day. Her sister, Stella Hudgens, traveled to Scotland to surprise Vanessa for her birthday on December 14, which the Spring Breakers star documented on Instagram.
“I was literally talking to my producer and I was like, ‘I think I’m going to call my sister and see if she wants to come out because I miss her,’” Vanessa recalled to cohost Ryan Seacrest and guest cohost Katie Lowes. “I get to my trailer and I open the door, and my mom was filming me. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ And there was a massive box — my sister pops out of a box. I was dead. [I had] no idea whatsoever. It was the greatest thing.”
Vanessa added that she missed Stella, 24, “so much” while she was busy filming although she loved working in the city.
“I am so obsessed,” she said. “It’s the place that I never knew I needed to be. It literally seems like Harry Potter come to life. The history is insane.”
As for her New Year’s Eve plans, Vanessa had a blast ringing in the new decade with some new traditions.
“There are 20,000 people, I believe,” Vanessa, who donned a princess-inspired gown and tiara on the holiday, explained. “You all carry torches and you walk down the royal aisle, down to the palace, and at the end of it there’s traditional Scottish music, you’re doing the jig, and there’s fireworks.”
Vanessa has appeared to be in good spirits following her break up from Butler. She posted a sun-drenched selfie via Instagram hours after news of their break up circulated. On Wednesday, January 15, Vanessa was all smiles at the Bad Boys for Life premiere, where she wore a white feathered Georges Hobeika dress.
