Florence Pugh refuses to be public about her relationships these days after experiencing online "abuse" while dating Zach Braff.
The Thunderbolts actress, who dated the Scrubs actor between 2019 and 2022, admitted on The Louis Theroux Podcast that the backlash over their 21-year age gap is a big reason why she doesn't talk about her relationships in the press or post about them on social media anymore.
"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," Pugh explained. "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. I think that hurt me."
The Don't Worry Darling actress noted that she got fed up with the "insane amount of abuse being hurled at my relationship just because there was an age gap" every time she referenced their romance on social media.
In April 2020, Pugh made an Instagram video in which she called out commenters for "bullying" Braff after she posted a photo to celebrate his birthday.
Referencing the video, she told Theroux, "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 continued, "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."
Pugh noted that by keeping her relationships private now, she has taken away the opportunity for people to comment on them.
The British star is believed to be dating Peaky Blinders actor Finn Cole.
