Vanessa Hudgens reportedly engaged to baseball player Cole Tucker

‘High School Musical’ star and Pittsburgh Pirates player have been dating for two years

Vanessa Hudgens is reportedly engaged to MLB baseball player Cole Tucker after two years of dating.

The shortstop, 26, proposed to the High School Musical alum, 34, at the end of 2022, according to People. While it’s unclear when the Pittsburgh Pirates player popped the question, the two recently enjoyed a romantic getaway in Paris in November 2022.

Hudgens and Tucker first sparked dating rumours in November 2020 when they were spotted holding hands in Los Angeles. The following February, the two confirmed their romance with an Instagram post on Valentine’s Day, before making their red carpet debut at the premiere of Hudgens’ film Tick...Tick...Boom! that November.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in May 2021, the Spring Breakers star revealed she was the one to make the first move after meeting Tucker on a Zoom meditation video call.

“I get on the Zoom, and I’m like: ‘Who is that?’” she told Barrymore at the time. “I found him, and we started talking. It’s wild that I found him over Zoom.”

“If I want something or someone, I’m going after them,” she continued. “I fully just slid into his DMs and was like: ‘Hey, it was nice to meet you.’ So I think there is no shame in making the first move.”

While the two have since shared glimpses into their relationship on social media, Tucker has remained private about his romance with Hudgens. However, Tucker once praised his “cool” girlfriend in a rare interview, saying: “I got a girlfriend and she’s cool. She’s awesome. I love her.”

Hudgens was previously in a relationship with Elvis star Austin Butler for nearly a decade, until their split in 2020. Hudgens and Butler were introduced by fellow Disney Channel alum Ashley Tisdale in 2011, following Hudgens’ split from High School Musical co-star Zac Efron in 2010.

Butler, who received the Oscar nomination for Best Actor, turned heads when he claimed that a “friend” had heard him singing along to an Elvis Presley song and insisted he should play the king of rock and roll one day. However, internet sleuths and fans of the former couple realised that Hudgens had spoken in a previous interview about how she had been the one to tell Butler about his resemblance to Presley.

In fact, after it was announced in 2019 that Butler would play the role of Presley in the Baz Luhrman biopic, Hudgens posted the news to her Instagram account and shared her excitement for Butler. “I AMMMM OVERRRR THE F***ING MOOOOOOOOONNNNN. I CANT WAIT,” she wrote. “SO PROUD OF MY HONEYYYYY!!!”

Butler set the record straight when he clarified it was his ex-girlfriend who encouraged him to audition for the role. “I was with my partner at the time,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “We’d been together for so long and she had this sort of clairvoyant moment and so I really, I owe her a lot for believing in me.”

The Independent has contacted representatives for Hudgens for comment.