2020 was a giant yr for Florence Pugh—and her profession has only gotten greater. After breakout roles in Midsommar and Little Women (for which she earned an Oscar nomination) and a buzzy performance as Yelena Belova in Black Widow, Pugh is certainly one of Hollywood’s buzziest young stars, with roles in Don’t Worry Darling and the Dune sequel coming up.
What’s less known in regards to the starlet is details round her love life and the over two years she spent dating Scrubs star Zach Braff, who’s 21 years her senior. While Pugh revealed in September 2022 that they broke up quietly months before, the 2 were a serious couple and even adopted a dog together during quarantine.
Below, every little thing we find out about their love story, from begin to end together with the friendship that endures.
August 2018
In the autumn of 2018, Braff began liking photos of Pugh on Instagram. This might have been across the time he solid her in his 2019 short film In The Time It Takes to Get There or an early signifier of their relationship.
March 2019
Collider.com reported that Braff and Pugh were each circling the movie The Secret Ingredients of Rocket Cola. Braff was attached to direct the project with Pugh within the lead role, although the title can now not be found on either of their IMDb pages.
April 2019
Firstly of April, In The Time It Takes to Get There’s released. Within the project, made for Adobe Cloud from a design contest winner’s idea, Pugh plays a Nineteenth-century influencer. She co-stars alongside Alicia Silverstone (Clueless), who works for the young mogul.
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On April 12, Pugh and Braff were spotted strolling through Latest York City while holding hands, per E!. The connection got here after Braff’s 2014 split from model Taylor Bagley after five years of dating.
June 2019
Braff shared a photograph of himself alongside Toby Sebastian, a musician, Game of Thrones actor, and Pugh’s older brother. “#cheers #🇬🇧,” he captioned a selfie of the pair toasting glasses of wine to the camera.
October 2019
Pugh’s debut on Braff’s feed arrived with quite the sentiment. She might be seen in a bunch shot captioned, “People I like.” Emmy winner Julia Garner commented on the post, “I like @florencepugh too!!!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️”
That very same month, Page Six captured the couple on a Whole Foods run in Hollywood. A source told the outlet, “It was very clear to me that they seem to be a couple.”
November 2019
Technically, their IG couple debut hit the next month. In Braff’s post, the pair could possibly be seen with a bunch visiting Disneyland.
Pugh and Braff also showed up on the L.A. premiere of Marriage Story on November 5, although they weren’t photographed together.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin//Getty Images
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin//Getty Images
December 2019
Braff and Pugh attended the NYC premiere of her film Little Women individually, robbing us yet again of an official joint red carpet appearance.
Taylor Hill//Getty Images
Dia Dipasupil//Getty Images
On December 28, Pugh gifted the world a late Christmas present: a relationship confirmation and clap back all rolled into one. “First pit-stop, Matzo Ball soup. #curingjetlag101,” she captioned a photograph of her posing outside an L.A. deli. Braff responded to the photo with the princess emoji. A commenter replied to Braff’s emoji by writing, “You are 44 years old.” Then-23-year-old Pugh responded, “and yet he got it👌🏽.”
January 2020
On January 11, People spotted the pair driving from a date at San Vicente Bungalows, a personal social club in Los Angeles.
Days later, Pugh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress on the 2020 Oscars. Braff looked as if it would play a large role within the day. She posted two photos of herself checking out in regards to the nomination in bed where she appears to be unclothed. (Many assumed Braff took the images.)
Later that day, Braff posted a photograph of Pugh getting her hair and makeup done to his Instagram Story with the caption, “Holy shit!”
People also obtained photos of the pair celebrating Pugh’s nomination with a kiss as she clutched a bottle of champagne.
February 2020
Pugh attended the Academy Awards on February 9 together with her parents by her side. (No red carpet debut as a pair this time!) But Braff documented the actress’s pre-awards show rituals on his Instagram Stories.
March 2020
People spotted the couple taking extra precautions while out on a walk in Los Angeles in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. Each Braff and Pugh might be seen wearing gloves while out for a grocery run. In line with the outlet, Pugh arrived at the shop on the back of Braff’s motorcycle.
A couple of days later, Braff announced on Instagram that he and former Scrubs co-star Donald Faison would launch a weekly recap podcast titled Fake Doctors, Real Friends With Zach + Donald. “WOOOOOOO!!!!👌🏽🤟🏼🍕🙃,” Pugh commented on her boyfriend’s post.
April 2020
Fans noticed that Pugh and Braff gave the impression to be fostering a dog together during coronavirus quarantine. On April 2, each of them posted a few puppy they’re fostering named Billie, crediting Los Angeles-based animal rescue org Labelle Foundation of their posts. By April 9, Braff confirmed in a post that he and Pugh had officially adopted Billie.
Pugh’s ig stories photo.
Instagram
Braff’s IG Stories photo.
On Braff’s birthday, Pugh made their relationship Instagram official. She shared the primary photo of him alone on her Instagram since they began dating. In her caption, she wrote to him, “Today we will smile wider than the clouds are grey. April sixth and we’re celebrating hard! Completely satisfied Birthday wishes, boogies and cheers for this special person. Raise those bubbles and jiggle!”
Just as quickly because the pair was ‘gram official, Pugh disabled comments on the post and shared a 4-minute video defending her relationship with Braff. “I’m 24 years old,” she said. “I don’t need you to inform me who I should and shouldn’t love. And I might never in my life ever, ever tell anyone who they’ll and can’t love. It is just not your home. And really, it has nothing to do with you. So if those rules are something that you simply don’t like, then please unfollow me since the abuse that you simply throw at him is abuse that you simply’re throwing at me.”
Ariana Grande was certainly one of the high-profile celebs to publicly support Pugh’s statement. “‘being hateful is just not trendy’ a latest tattoo for my chest. oh i really like and appreciate u a lot,” Grande commented on the post. She also shared the video to her Instagram Story, writing, “Beautifully worded and deeply appreciated. Sharing special, personal life things that make u glad on the web might be truly traumatic. I do know I’ve taken a step back from doing so to guard my family members and myself but I just desired to share this and let u know the way perfectly u expressed this and the way appreciated u are for doing so @florencepugh.”
May 2020
The next month, Pugh spoke about she and Braff’s age difference and relationship again for the duvet of ELLE UK. She said that clapping back at trolls and defending her romance was “obligatory,” adding, “because people need to comprehend that it’s hurtful. I even have the appropriate to hang around and be with and exit with anyone I would like to.”
Pugh also addressed the concept that individuals are entitled to find out about her personal life. “I’m an actor because I like acting, and I don’t mind people watching my stuff, but people haven’t any right to coach me on my private life,” she told the outlet. “I do know that a part of being within the highlight is that folks might invade your privacy and have opinions on it, nevertheless it’s bizarre that ordinary folk are allowed to display such hate and opinions on a component of my life that I’m not putting on the market. It’s a wierd side of fame that you simply’re allowed to be torn apart by hundreds of individuals although you didn’t put that piece of you on the market.”
She concluded her comments by saying, “I don’t need to speak about it since it’s not something I would like to focus on, but my point to all that is that isn’t it odd that a stranger can totally tear apart someone’s relationship, and it’s allowed?”
July 2020
In the summertime, Braff shared a photograph of Pugh within the movie that introduced them to one another. “A still from the short film I wrote and directed with @aliciasilverstone and @florencepugh shot by the legendary @mauro_fiore_
Link in my bio ⬆️” he captioned the snap.
September 2020
Pugh honored late Broadway actor Nick Cordero’s birthday on September 17. Cordero, who died of COVID-19 complications in July, was an in depth friend of Braff’s. She shared several photos of herself with Cordero, including one which had her cuddled up with Braff and Cordero on the couch.
“So. This amazing man is popping 42 today,” her tribute began. “Nick was the primary to welcome me into this friendship group, he had this big open smile that makes you fall in love with him even when he hadn’t said anything yet.” Pugh also wrote, “I might find Zach and Nick cuddling on the sofa at the top of so many parties, it looked so comfortable it might be hard not to hitch,” ending the post with, “Completely satisfied Fucking Birthday darling, we will have a mighty cheese board with all of the chutneys and relishes in your honour.
We’re pondering of you. ‘We love you to infinity and beyond!’
@nickcordero1 @amandakloots.”
November 2020
In an interview with Mr Porter, Braff shied away from discussing his relationship with Pugh. He did, nevertheless, speak about her defense of him on Instagram. “She literally sat down, hit record on her phone, and said that,” he remembered. “I believed, How could I possibly follow anything as intelligent and articulate as that? So I selected to not.”
January 2021
The beginning of a latest yr meant a rare Instagram tribute from Braff to Pugh. In honor of her twenty fifth birthday, he shared several photos of Pugh, writing, “Completely satisfied Birthday to essentially the most fun person I’ve ever met. I might have felt blessed to have smiled together with your for one night. I can’t consider I get to giggle with you on a regular basis. What a pleasure it’s to know you. What a present to the world it was that you simply were born.”
Pugh shared Braff’s post on her Instagram Story, captioning it with a single heart emoji.
April 2021
For Braff’s birthday, Pugh shared a heartfelt Instagram tribute to him. The post offered a rare look into their relationship, over a yr into the coronavirus pandemic.
Pugh wrote:
It’s this magical individuals birthday. A yr ago we got Billie three days before Zach’s day and he or she’s flopped on her back for tummy tickles from him like this ever since. A special occasion for a special fella requires special foot wear and fluffy trackies.. obvi.
His have to make people laugh and smile isn’t ending, his constant generosity and love for others is infectious, his creativity and skill to place real and honest words onto the page inspires many and all who’s around him, but above all.. his appreciation for all times and excitement for LIVING is something I all the time pay attention to.
Completely satisfied Birthday chicken, odd shoes is a very good look 🌼 @zachbraff
May 2021
In ELLE UK’s June cover story, Pugh not directly touched on her relationship with Braff and the incontrovertible fact that people criticize her 21-year age difference with the actor.
“I even have the appropriate to hang around and be with and exit with anyone I would like to,” she told the magazine. “I’ve all the time found this a part of what people do really bizarre. I’m an actor because I like acting and I don’t mind people watching my stuff, but people haven’t any right to coach me on my private life.”
June 2021
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Pugh spoke about what she’s observed about her critics.
“I believe it bugs those that it’s not who they expected,” she said. “But it surely’s my life and I’m not doing anything to please people or to make it a greater headline or story. I would like to even be an individual!”
She expanded:
“It’s so weird to me to go on to someone’s page and shit on it,” she said, referring to the trolls. “That’s so not my nature—to go and bully for the sake of bullying. It’s such an odd thing that we’ve turn out to be OK with prior to now ten years of social media. The thing is, people want Instagram to be a nicer place, they need to see nice things. They need to be inspired they usually need to be glad. I don’t mind you not liking me, that’s absolutely superb. Wherein case don’t follow me.”
July 2021
Upon the discharge of Black Widow, Braff took to his Instagram to share a novel gift he gave Pugh in honor of her performance as Natasha Romanoff’s little sister, Yelena Belova. “Go see “Black Widow” this weekend and watch @florencepugh save the world! I commissioned this painting from the legendary painter and comic book artist @philnoto. (the Russian says “Widow”),” Braff captioned the post. The one-of-a-kind painting is of Yelena–seemingly the subsequent Black Widow– in full costume, wearing her favorite vest and holding two guns in her hands.
January 2022
For Pugh’s twenty sixth birthday on January 3, Braff posted a candid Instagram Story tribute offering a rare look into their relationship and all he thinks of her.
“Completely satisfied Birthday to this beautiful human being. I’m so lucky to know you. And the world is so lucky they get to witness your incredible talent. @florencepugh.”
April 2022
Pugh marked Braff’s forty seventh birthday by sharing an Instagram Story celebrating him. “Completely satisfied Birthday Zachary,” she wrote, posting three photos of Braff with their dog, per Page Six.
September 2022
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Pugh revealed she and Braff broke up quietly earlier in 2022. She didn’t indicate when exactly they ended their romance, but she did address why they selected to maintain the news to themselves.
“We’ve been attempting to do that separation without the world knowing, since it’s been a relationship that everyone has an opinion on,” Pugh said. “We just felt something like this might really do us the advantage of not having tens of millions of individuals telling us how glad they’re that we’re not together. So we’ve done that. I mechanically get a lumpy throat once I speak about it.”
January 2023
Months after their breakup, Braff signaled he and Pugh were still on good terms when he posted a tribute to his ex on his Instagram Story to mark her twenty seventh birthday on January 3. “Completely satisfied Birthday, legend,” he wrote to her, tagging her within the post.
His post comes just a few weeks after Pugh shared the primary look photo and trailer of their upcoming movie A Good Person, which Braff directed, and he or she starred in.
Editorial Fellow
Savannah Walsh is an Editorial Fellow at ELLE.com.
Starr Savoy is a fellow at ELLE.com, where she writes about celebrity, culture, beauty, and fashion. When she is just not working, you’ll find her pumping iron on the gym, watching Netflix’s latest phenomenon, and indulging in retail therapy.
