Exes Florence Pugh and Zach Braff have reunited for the premiere of their new movie, A Good Person.
On Wednesday, Pugh, 27, posed on the red carpet alongside Braff in a sequined black crop top with tie sides, high-waisted gray trousers, and opera-length black gloves with individual trains, while her former partner wore a purple and gray plaid suit and a white button down.
The former couple’s reunion came after Braff revealed that he wrote the screenplay for the film for Pugh while living with the actress during lockdown.
“There was nothing to do other than to start a screenplay because that’s what I meant to do, that’s what I like to do, and I wanted to write something for Florence, and this is kind of what came out of me,” he told Variety this week.
The actress then noted that the role was perfect for her because her former partner “knows” her.
“He knows how I talk, he knows how I take the piss out of people and I think he just put that in his script and I was allowed to come and fill in where it was needed,” she said. “But reading something that is dedicated for you written by someone who knows you so well is a wonderful gift.”
When did Pugh and Braff date and what has the Midsommar star said about their relationship and breakup?
In August 2022, Pugh revealed that she and Braff had parted ways after three years during a cover interview for Harper’s Bazaar.
“We’ve been trying to do this separation without the world knowing, because it’s been a relationship that everybody has an opinion on,” she said. “We just felt something like this would really do us the benefit of not having millions of people telling us how happy they are that we’re not together. So we’ve done that.”
The update came three years after the pair were first romantically linked in 2019, when they were spotted taking a trip to New York City together after working alongside one another on the film In the Time It Takes to Get There.
In December of that year, Pugh seemingly confirmed the romance when she shut down criticism of their 21-year age gap on Instagram.
In response to a troll who’d written: “You’re 44 years old,” to Braff, Pugh wrote: “And yet he got it.”
The couple became slightly more open about their relationship as the time went on, with Pugh dedicating a 45th birthday tribute to her partner on 6 April 2020.
“Today we shall smile wider than the clouds are grey. April 6th and we’re celebrating hard! Happy Birthday wishes, boogies and cheers for this special person. Raise those bubbles and jiggle!” Pugh captioned a photo of Braff on her Instagram.
Pugh spoke out in defence of her and Braff’s age gap the same year, with the Little Women star condemning the abusive comments in a video posted to her Instagram.
“I am 24 years old. I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love and I would never in my life tell anyone who they can and cannot love. It is not your place,” she said in the video. “The abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you are throwing at me, and I don’t want those followers. I do not want to have to be protecting my comments every time I post a picture of him. I really hope that I can continue this relationship with a lot of you.”
At the time, Pugh also encouraged any critics of her relationship to unfollow her on social media.
Pugh addressed the criticism of her relationship again during an interview with Elle UK in May 2020, where she noted that she has “the right to hang out and be with and go out with anyone”.
At the time, the actress also said that her fame shouldn’t mean people feel entitled to hurl abuse at the couple.
“I know that part of being in the spotlight is that people might invade your privacy and have opinions on it, but it’s bizarre that normal folk are allowed to display such hate and opinions on a part of my life that I’m not putting out there,” she said. “It’s a strange side of fame that you’re allowed to be torn apart by thousands of people even though you didn’t put that piece of you out there. My point to all this is that isn’t it odd that a stranger can totally tear apart someone’s relationship and it’s allowed?”
While appearing on the Sue Perkins: An hour or so with... podcast in July 2020, Pugh admitted that the comments about her relationship had made her feel like “sh*t” before she recognised how “ridiculous” it was to let others dictate her relationship.
Pugh also noted that she’d tried dating someone her age, and that there was a reason it hadn’t worked, before alleging that the criticism towards her relationship was solely intended to make “a young woman feel like s**t for no reason”.
“I’ve always found it funny, how I can be good enough for people to watch my work and support my work and pay for tickets, and I’m old enough to be an adult and pay taxes, but I’m not old enough to know who I should and should not have sex with,” she said. “Yet again, once again, it’s making a young woman feel like s**t for no reason.”
In April 2021, Pugh shared another birthday tribute to Braff on Instagram, where she referred to him as a “magical person”.
In July of that year, Pugh told the Sunday Times that she believed people criticised her relationship because Braff was “not who they expected” her to date.
“But it’s my life and I’m not doing anything to please people or to make it a better headline or story. I want to also be a person!” she said at the time.
Amid speculation that the pair was no longer together, Pugh confirmed that she and Braff had broken up in August 2022, with the actress revealing at the time that she “automatically gets a lumpy throat when I talk about it”.
However, despite the couple’s breakup, Pugh has continued to express her support for Braff.
In December 2022, she shared the first trailer of A Good Person, which was directed by Braff, on Instagram, where she praised the film.
“This is the first time I’ve had the pleasure and the privilege of watching how the art is made from the very beginning to the very end,” she wrote. “I am so proud of this creation, I’m so grateful to all those who jumped on board this crazy journey with us.”
Pugh again addressed criticism of her relationship with Braff in a January 2023 Vogue cover story, where she reiterated her belief that fans expected her to be with someone else.
“They imagined me with someone younger and someone in blockbusters,” she said. “I think young relationships in Hollywood are so easily twisted because they add to the gossip sites. It’s exciting to watch. And I think I was in a relationship that didn’t do any of that.”
In the same interview, Braff also praised his ex-girlfriend, with the actor describing Pugh as “one of the greatest actors of her generation”.
“She’s just magnetic. You cannot take your eyes off of her. And it’s not just her beauty and it’s not just her acting ability, it’s that thing, that magic thing that transcends the screen, where anyone and everyone goes: I want to see whatever this person does,” he said.
During the interview, Pugh also admitted that she was still healing from the breakup.
“My breakup has been very new, so I’m figuring that out,” she told Vogue.
