Zac Efron Dumped Girlfriend for Vanessa Hudgens During 'HSM' Shoot: Book

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens found love on the set of High School Musical after he allegedly dumped his preexisting girlfriend.

The origins of Efron and Hudgens’ relationship was highlighted in Ashley Spencer’s new book Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire. Spencer claimed that Efron, now 36, confessed his feelings for Hudgens, now 35, to HSM choreographer Charles “Chucky” Klapow.

In the middle of a “rare, wild night of intermingling,” Efron pulled Klapow, now 44, aside to ask for advice.

“I don’t know what to do, man. Vanessa is super into me, and I have feelings for her, too. I don’t want to do the wrong thing with my girlfriend,” Spencer reported Efron telling the dancer at the time. “I also don’t want to shut Vanessaa down and ruin the chemistry in the movie.”

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Klapow ultimately encouraged Efron to “explore” his connection with Hudgens since they were “so young” and away from home on set.

Efron and Hudgens played love interests Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez in the 2006 Disney Channel movie. The musical DCOM — also starring Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Luca Grabeel and Monique Coleman — was filmed in Utah.

After Efron and Klapow walked back into the hotel room, the cast party “delved into melodrama,” Spencer wrote.

“Vanessa was in tears, crying in the locked bathroom with Ashley. It seemed as if the tipping point of her unrequited love had been reached,” Spencer claimed in the book. “Corbin tried to console her from the other room until Zac knocked on the bathroom door, and Ashley left the two of them to talk alone.”

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According to Grabeel, he remembered Efron and Hudgens left the bathroom holding hands.

“I mean, it was so high school,” Grabeel, now 39, recalled in the book. “It was like, ‘He broke up with his girlfriend, and we’re together now.’”

Efron and Hudgens, who reprised their HSM roles in 2007 and 2008 sequels, were together for five years.

“We got lucky because we started off together, so I think people like us because they fell in love with the characters,” Hudgens told Glamour in a June 2010 interview. “Right off the bat, we had a connection. I think everybody could see it. When we had our audition, they paired us together. And he was adorable. I mean, he wasn’t the guy that he is today. Like, he had a gap in his teeth.”

Efron and Hudgens ultimately split later in 2010. The Princess Switch actress went on to date Austin Butler before they split in 2020. She moved on with baseball player Cole Tucker, and the pair tied the knot in 2023. They welcomed their first baby together one year later.

Efron, for his part, has since been linked to Alexandra Daddario, Michelle Rodriguez, Sami Miró and Vanessa Valladares. He told Men’s Health in October 2022 that he was single, adding that he hopes to “meet the right person” when he “least expect[s] it.”

Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire is available now.