Florence Pugh has addressed the age difference between her and former partner Zach Braff for the first time in a while.
The 29-year-old actress, known for her role in Marvel films, discussed her three-year relationship with the 50-year-old Braff during a recent episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast.
She opened up about how their 21-year age difference became a subject of public debate and shared why she chooses not to discuss her personal relationships in the media anymore.
Pugh and Braff were romantically involved from 2019 until 2022, having met when she was cast in his directorial work, In The Time It Takes to Get There.
Addressing the scrutiny, Pugh said, “With relationships and with romance in this world, it doesn’t matter how much you speak on it or how little you speak on it, people don’t care. They want a story.”
She continued, “They sort of want a reality show, and so it doesn’t really matter how much you say you love someone or how much they make you happy, if they don’t like them and it doesn’t fit that image that they want of you, they don’t care.”
Pugh detailed the ‘insane amount of abuse’ directed at her relationship due to the age gap, prompting her to address detractors on social media in a video posted in 2020.
In this clip, Pugh responded to those criticizing Braff after she shared a birthday picture of him on Instagram.
She explained in the video: “Within about eight minutes of the photo being posted, I had about 70 percent of the comments hurling abuse and being horrid — basically bullying someone on my page.
“It is the first time in my entire Instagram life that I’ve had to turn off the comments on my page. I’ve never been an Instagram page that encourages that. I’ve never been an Instagram page that likes that toxic vibe.”
She urged followers to ‘kindly unfollow’ her if they disagreed with avoiding ‘cyber bullying’ comments about Braff.
In conversation with Theroux, Pugh stated: “I’ll always defend people that I love, I will always stand up for them.
“If there needs to be a reset and a bit of a smack on the wrist, I will do that because it’s not fair that so much of your life gets to have jabs.”
She added, “It got to the point where it was just really horrible to see someone that you are with receiving that, and it was never at me, it was only at him. And I think I just needed to kind of just check everyone, and so I made a video and it got a lot of love and lots of people were supportive, which was great. I do think people online need to be reminded that we’re real.”
The couple parted ways in 2022, with Pugh confirming the breakup in Harper’s Bazaar, although reports suggest they have remained on good terms.