Vanessa Hudgens, a life in the spotlight avoiding controversy

When in 2006

High School Musical

became one of the films of the year, making its protagonists the new teenage stars of the moment, Vanessa Hudgens (Salinas, California, 35 years old), had already had several years of work behind her.

She had barely turned 18 when the Disney Channel musical hit the small screen, but the actress and singer had cut her teeth with small roles since she was a child.

Almost two decades have passed since that moment and during all this time Hudgens has not left the public eye, not so much because of her work in film and television, but because of the constant interest aroused by her personal life, for which much of the press American seems to be fascinated.

Her last appearance on the recent Oscar red carpet, where she came to broadcast it on the ABC network, went around the world and the interpreter took advantage of the occasion to reveal that she was pregnant with her first child.

This role as a reporter at the Oscars is just one more for the multifaceted artist, willing to lend her voice to children's films like

My Little Pony: A New Generation

, to star in a documentary about witchcraft or to promote the facial masks of her cosmetic company, Know. Beauty, launched in 2021.

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Despite his efforts, distancing himself from

High School Musical

is almost an impossible task even today.

At the time of its premiere, the film had almost eight million viewers in the United States, making it the film with the most viewers in the history of Disney Channel.

The record was broken by the second part of the musical, which became the highest-grossing television movie in history, with 17.3 million viewers.

The third installment was released directly in theaters in 2008 and at the time it was the musical with the best box office on the day of its release.

These figures reflect the impact of the

High School Musical

phenomenon , present to this day, and also explain why Vanessa Hudgens, an icon among millennials, continues to be remembered almost exclusively for the role she played in that film, that of Gabriella Montez.

Vanessa Hudgens poses with Minnie Mouse during a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in 2011.Handout (Getty Images)

The character's name led many people to think that Hudgens had Latin roots.

However, she herself has explained on numerous occasions that her ancestry is Filipino: “I became famous for

High School Musical

and my character is Gabriella Montez, everyone assumed she was Latina and many people still think so.

When I tell them I'm Filipino they're like 'what?'.

You haven't met my mother.

"I think I'm quite ambiguous, that's why people don't know, but I'm doing everything I can to let them know because I'm proud," the interpreter explained in an interview with

Allure

last September.

Curiously, the sequel in series form to

High School Musical

, released in 2019 and baptized with the convoluted name of

High School Musical: the musical: the series

, also featured a protagonist of Filipino descent, Olivia Rodrigo, one of the great references of generation Z.

Some stolen photos and an obligatory apology

Hudgens' mother, Gina, came to the United States at age 25 from the Philippines and soon met firefighter Gregory Hudgens.

In 1988, the couple's first daughter, Vanessa, was born.

The actress has a younger sister, Stella, also dedicated to acting.

Hudgens's first steps in the entertainment industry took place in small local productions in her hometown, Salinas, California.

Since she was a child, her passion and talent for music allowed her to be part of several musicals.

After her came the turn of television advertisements, a prelude to her official debut as an actress.

“I feel like I've lived many, many lives because I've been in this industry for so long,” she confessed to

Glamor

when taking stock of her career.

She was not yet a teenager and her parents had already opted for her career as an actress.

The whole family moved to Los Angeles to pursue Vanessa Hudgens' dream.

'High School Musical' stars Lucas Grabeel, Ashley Tisdale, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman at one of the film's presentations.Mathew Imaging (FilmMagic for Academy of Televis)

It didn't take long for his first big opportunity to arrive.

At age 13 she appeared in a supporting role in

Thirteen

, starring Evan Rachel Wood.

The film was not a great success at the box office, but it allowed Hudgens to sneak onto the Hollywood radar.

In 2006, everything changed with

High School Musical

.

Her career took off and her personal life became a recurring topic of conversation, especially as a result of her courtship with her co-star, Zac Efron, Troy Bolton in the musical film, with whom she dated from 2005 to 2010. The scrutiny towards The couple, and more specifically towards Hudgens, bordered on the unimaginable.

In 2007, at the age of 18, she was the victim of a leak of private photos, a rare practice at the dawn of social networks and one that completely traumatized her.

In the images, taken in the privacy of her home, she appeared in lingerie and naked and she was harshly judged by American society, unable to understand how this Disney girl could allow herself to be photographed like this.

Having become a child star, many parents criticized the attitude of the actress, who was also vilified by certain press.

So much so, that her departure from the third installment of

High School Musical

, in preparation at the time, was rumored.

Finally, she had to issue a statement and apologize: “I want to apologize to my fans, whose support means the world to me.

I am embarrassed by the situation and I regret having taken those photos.

“I feel grateful for the support of my family and friends.”

Disney assured that it would continue to rely on the actress: “Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously an error in judgment,” read the company's statement, placing Hudgens as the culprit and not the person responsible for leaking the images.

To this day, he recognizes the experience as traumatic.

This is what she expressed it a couple of years ago in a long interview in Cosmopolitan

magazine

.

“It's fucked up that people feel empowered enough to share something this personal with the world.

As an actress, you completely lose your privacy and it is very sad,” she assured.

This lack of privacy to which she alludes has haunted her on many other occasions, for example during her relationship with actor Austin Butler.

The couple dated for almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020, and Hudgens was the one who encouraged Butler to audition for the role of Elvis Presley in the biopic directed by Baz Lhurmann, a work for which he won a Golden Globe. and her first Oscar nomination in 2023. To the surprise of their followers, the couple, one of the strongest in the

star system

, put an end to the relationship four years ago.

On the

She Pivots podcast

, Hudgens referred to this notorious breakup and was grateful to her ex-partner because she “pushed him toward the right person.”

“I have never met a person who supports and understands me so much,” she acknowledged.

Butler is currently dating model Kaia Gerber and in December of last year Hudgens married baseball player Cole Tucker.

Oversharing on social networks

Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler were together for almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin (FilmMagic)

The press has subjected her to constant scrutiny, sometimes fueled by the actress herself from her social networks.

Several of the controversies in which she has been involved in recent years originated from her publications on Instagram.

For example, when in 2016 she shared an image of a stone engraved with a heart with the initials of her and her then-partner, Austin Butler.

The stone in question was protected as it belonged to the Coconino National Park in Arizona, which is why it was investigated.

Or when in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, she spoke coldly about the coronavirus in an Instagram live by downplaying the disease and expressing that it was “inevitable” that people would die.

To try to minimize the commotion caused by her lack of sensitivity, she intoned the

mea culpa

and claimed to be aware of the importance that her words could have.

Hudgens has not achieved the success achieved with

High School Musical

.

Without lacking work in film and television, currently her fame is due more to being a celebrity in herself (on Instagram alone she accumulates more than 51 million followers).

Behind her, there is a long list of titles, almost all of them easy to forget.

It could be said that for a long time the most notable thing for the press has been her commented outfits at Coachella, a festival at which she has been a regular year after year.

From time to time, critics recognize her talent for musicals, as happened in 2016 when she stepped into Rizzo's shoes in

Grease: live!

, broadcast live on Fox, a different television project that coincided with a difficult personal moment.

The day before it premiered, her father died of cancer.

“I never thought 'I don't want to do it', because my father would have wanted me to do it,” she said as a result of that bitter ordeal.

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Some notable exceptions slip into his extensive filmography, such as the 2012 film

Spring Breakers

, by Harmony Korine.

In the film she once again put herself in the shoes of a student, this time much less timid than Gabriella Montez.

With

Spring Breakers

, where she shared the screen with another former Disney girl, Selena Gomez, she shed the good girl aura that Disney seeks to promote in all of its teenage actresses.

In 2021, Lin-Manuel Miranda featured her as part of the cast of the Netflix musical

Tick, tick… boom!

, inspired by the life of playwright Jonathan Larson and starring Andrew Garfield.

Much less ambitious are the Christmas movies

Princess Change

, one of Netflix's great hits in this category and whose synopsis revolves around the exchange of identities of two women who bear a great resemblance, a pastry chef from Chicago and a princess, both Vanessa Hudgens.

Since the premiere of the first part in 2018, two other sequels have been added to this lucrative saga.

But if there is a surprising project in the Californian's extensive resume, it is her first documentary,

Dead Hot

, which originated from her interest in ghosts.

In the company of DJ GG Magree, Hudgens lands in the town of Salem (a place of pilgrimage for followers of witchcraft and its stories) with the aim of learning more about spirits and visiting haunted houses where they can contact ghosts.

On the host and singer Kelly Clarkson's program,

The Kelly Clarkson Show

, she alluded to this hobby and explained that, since she was little, she has had a “gift” that connects her with the spiritual world.

“I was raised in a Catholic home.

My mother is Catholic, my father was not religious.

It's something I found out for myself, but I also believe in past lives.

Several mediums have told me that in most of my lives I have practiced witchcraft,” she also revealed in a chat with

The Cut

.

The public may have pigeonholed Hudgens as a musical actress or protagonist in certain types of after-dinner movies, but the truth is that the performer does not set limits of any kind.

Aware of her great prescription power, in 2021 she teamed up with singer Madison Beer to launch the cosmetic brand Know Beauty.

In 2023, Beer stepped back and Hudgens took full control of the brand, although they currently only sell eight types of products.

If the actress has proven anything over the course of two decades, it is that, just as happens with classic musicals, she never goes out of style.

About to enter motherhood, Hudgens faces a new stage, and millions of fans around the world will follow in her footsteps from a distance.