Florence Pugh has said “an insane amount of abuse” was “hurled at” her relationship with fellow actor Zach Braff due to their 21-year age gap.
The Midsommar star began dating the Scrubs veteran in 2019 and the pair remained an item until early 2022.
In a new interview on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Pugh has said she was “hurt” by the comments she received during the relationship.
“It was an insane amount of abuse being hurled at my relationship just because there was an age gap,” she said. “I stood up for it, and I stood up for him and I stood up for me just being allowed to do whatever the f*** I wanted to do, and that kind of did actually change a few people's minds.”
Pugh continued: “I'll always defend people that I love, I will always stand up for them. I'll always make sure that if there needs to be a reset and there needs to be 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.”
Pugh publicly defended Braff a number of times and once stated in a video posted on Instagram: “I do not need you tell me who I should and should not love.”
In the candid clip, posted in April 2020, the Little Women actor said she had been forced to turn Instagram comments off on her profile after receiving a torrent of “toxic” comments on a post about Braff’s 45th birthday.
“I will not allow that behaviour on my page, I’m not about that,” she said at the time. “It makes me upset, it makes me sad that during this time when we really all need to be together, we need to be supporting one another.”
Pugh told Theroux: “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; they want a reality show. 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. And I think that hurt me.”
Nowadays, Pugh – who has remained on good terms with Braff since their split – rarely discusses her love life in interviews but earlier this year, was rumoured to be dating Peaky Blinders star Finn Cole.
