Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler split after nine years together

Actor couple Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler have called time on their relationship after almost nine years together.

The High School Musical star and her Shannara Chronicles beau decided to go their separate ways in late 2019 however news of their split has just emerged.

“Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up, and Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup,” a source told Us Weekly on Wednesday.

Tongues began wagging last year when 28-year-old Austin - who is set to play Elvis Presley in a new biopic - was absent from his lady love’s 31st birthday celebrations on December 13.

He also appeared to skip Vanessa’s trip to Vals, Switzerland, and left her to pose for photographs alone on New Year's Eve.

The most recent snap of the couple to appear on the former Disney star’s Instagram page dates back to Halloween, showing the pair decked out in gothic garb.

Over on her ex Austin’s page, he shared a pic of the pair at the July red carpet premiere of his film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Mere hours after news of her breakup with Austin emerged, Vanessa posted a relaxed selfie to Instagram showing her fresh-faced and smiling.

Austin, however, doesn’t appear to have uploaded a post since October 2019 when he shared a photo from a magazine interview.

Their split comes just over a year after Vanessa revealed to Women’s Health she was in ‘no rush’ to wed.

“I want to get married, travel, then have kids - probably in my late 30s. Everyone's clock is different,” she said at the time.

Austin and Vanessa met on the set of teen flick High School Musical in 2005 when Vanessa was dating her other co-star, Zac Efron, however, the couple didn't get together until 2011.

Just days ago, the brunette beauty admitted she longs for the days when she was ‘young and free’ as adulthood has started to take its toll on her.

“I definitely feel more anxiety now than I ever have in my entire life. You become an adult and s**t gets real,” she told Cosmopolitan.

“I have two mortgages and I'm spending way more money than I would like to spend - I think all of that bulls**t really takes a toll on your wellbeing.

“Paying your taxes - all of this adult s**t that you don't have to deal with when you're a kid, you can live young and free, then it all kind of ... goes away”.

Additional reporting by BANG Showbiz.

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