Here’s the Deal With Florence Pugh and Zach Braff’s ’Ship, for Everyone Who’s Curious
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In the event that you are one of the many people suddenly and completely obsessed with Florence Pugh due to Little Women Feels™, kindly move over because my friends and I (a collection of Timothée Chalamet posters) are right there with you. Florence was hands down the best part of that entire perfect movie, so logically, she was nominated for a bunch of awards. And whomst was supporting her from behind the scenes, you ask? None other than, uh, *checks notes* Zach Braff, man who once starred in Scrubs.
Twenty-five-year-old Florence and 46-year-old Zach have a 21-year age difference between them, and as a result, they’ve been dealing with a fair amount of backlash online. To wit:
Florence Pugh and Zach Braff pic.twitter.com/onlRygljbI
— Sam Montgomery (@sammontgomery) January 5, 2020
And, I mean, sure—it’s kinda weird to think about the fact that Florence was only 5 when the first season of Scrubs aired. But not our business! They seem happy! Anyway, if you are still in need of answers, we’ve put together a timeline of their relationship so you can consider boarding their ’ship.
Circa August 2018
Zach hops on ye olde Instagram and starts Liking Florence’s Instagram posts in earnest. Truly, there is no chill to be found.
Circa April 2019
Florence stars in Zach’s short film In the Time It Takes to Get There. There’s no confirmation that this is how they originally fell for each other, buuut it seems like a possible starting point for their romance:
Either way, later that same month, the pair are seen holding hands in New York City, so looks like things definitely ~heated up~ at some point.
Circa August 2019
Florence and Zach are spotted on vacation with friends, and pics start making the rounds on Twitter’s many, many, many Florence-themed fan accounts:
📸 Florence with Zach and a couple of friends enjoying a sunny day in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. (sydmo7 via Instagram) pic.twitter.com/oRv4WQE7bn
— Florence Pugh Vault (@fpughvault) August 20, 2019
November 7, 2019
Florence and Zach go to Disneyland with friends! Mickey Mouse is shook!
December 10, 2019
Zach casually calls Florence one of the people he “loves” on Instagram. I mean, it’s a group pic, but still:
December 7, 2019
Florence and Zach attend the premiere of Little Women but don’t pose together even though, like, we all know they’re dating.
December 28, 2019
One of Florence’s followers randomly comments, “You’re 44 years old,” under a cute emoji Zach leaves on her Instagram post, and she hits back with, “And yet he got it 👌🏽.”
Wow, a clapback AND a confirmation of their relationship? We are not worthy.
April 6, 2020
Florence hits Instagram with a Zach Braff b-day message and strategically shuts all her comments off ahead of time. Probably wise!
Here’s what she wrote:
“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!”
April 9, 2020
Turns out there’s more to that “comments turned off” thing on Florence’s Zach Braff Insta the other day. Apparently, the comments got nasty, so Florence shut that sh*t down and posted a follow-up vid defending her relationship and told people to cool it.
“Seventy percent of the comments [were] hurling abuse and being horrid.…I’m 24 years old. I have been working since I was 17 years old. I have been earning money since I was 17 years old. I became an adult when I was 18 years old and I started paying taxes when I was 18 years old,” Florence said.
“I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love, and I would never in my life ever, ever tell someone who they can and cannot love,” she continued. “It is not your place. It has nothing to do with you.”
“The abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you’re throwing at me, and I don’t want those followers…I don’t want that on my page. It’s embarrassing, it’s sad, and I don’t know when cyberbullying became trendy.”
May 7, 2020
Aaand Florence pipes up about the age difference issue yet again, this time in an interview with Elle UK. Instead of shying away, Florence says she has no problem with publicly defending her relationship “because people need to realize that it’s hurtful,” adding that she has “the right to hang out and be with and go out with anyone I want to.”
For the record, Florence is also fully aware that if she dates anyone in the industry, she’s gonna get a flurry of attention for it. That doesn’t mean she’s cool with people being disrespectful toward her relationship and making constant critiques about her life choices though.
“I’m an actor because I like acting and I don’t mind people watching my stuff, but people have no right to educate me on my private life,” Florence continues. “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. 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.”
Despite the fact that it’s abundantly clear Florence has ~feelings~ on the matter, she’s not gonna dwell on it any longer: “I don’t want to talk about it because it’s not something I want to highlight, but 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?” Preach, girl!
September 3, 2020
Zach posted an Insta Story in his kitchen, and Florence was in the background cooking up a storm. Cute-cute-cute!
November 9, 2020
Because the criticism about their relationship quite literally refuses to cease, Zach had to let it be known how proud he is of Florence for standing her ground against their haters on Instagram.
In an interview with Mr Porter, Zach referred to Florence’s IG post heard round the world and said, “She literally sat down, hit record on her phone, and said that. I thought, How could I possibly follow anything as intelligent and articulate as that? So I chose not to.”
January 3, 2021
It’s Florence’s 25th birthday! In honor of his girlfriend, Zach posted a ton of A+ pics and a mushy caption, as you do.
“Happy birthday to the most fun person I’ve ever met. I would have felt blessed to have smiled with you for one night. I can’t believe I get to giggle with you every day. What a pleasure it is to know you. What a gift to the world it was that you were born.”
He added these bonus shots to his Insta Stories for good measure:
Interestingly enough, among Florence’s many b-day well-wishers was a friend who signed off their thoughts with, “Much love FPB!” Could that be…Florence Pugh BRAFF? 🤔
April 7, 2021
Still no word on those ~engagement rumors~, but Florence went ahead and posted a sweet Insta for Zach’s 46th birthday:
Here’s what she wrote alongside pics of Zach and their dog:
“It’s this magical person’s birthday. A year ago we got Billie three days before Zach’s day and she’s flopped on her back for tummy tickles from him like this ever since. A special day for a special fella requires special foot wear and fluffy trackies…obvi. His need to make people laugh and smile is never-ending, his constant generosity and love for others is infectious, his creativity and ability to put real and honest words onto the page inspires many and all who’s around him, but above all…his appreciation for life and excitement for LIVING is something I always take note of. Happy Birthday chicken, odd shoes is a good look. 🌼 @zachbraff”
That just about brings us up to date, so prepare yourself for more content now that they’re Insta official and please hop outta Florence’s comments if you have an issue with it!
May 7, 2021
And Florence low-key talks about the people criticizing her and Zach's age gap...again! Flo's on the cover of ELLE UK and let her thoughts about the haters be known in the corresponding June cover story.
“I have the right to hang out and be with and go out with anyone I want to,” she tells the magazine. “I’ve always found this part of what people do really bizarre. I’m an actor because I like acting and I don’t mind people watching my stuff, but people have no right to educate me on my private life.”
July 4, 2021
Florence makes an astute observation of her critics in an interview with The Sunday Times, and I'm p sure a bunch of people are feeling a lil too seen because of her comments.
“I think it bugs people that it’s not who they expected,” she says. “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!”
Once again, Florence expresses just how much she hates the people who troll her, saying, “It’s so weird to me to go on to someone’s page and shit on it...that’s so not my nature—to go and bully for the sake of bullying. It’s such an odd thing that we’ve become OK with in the past ten years of social media. The thing is, people want Instagram to be a nicer place, they want to see nice things. They want to be inspired and they want to be happy. I don’t mind you not liking me, that’s absolutely fine. In which case don’t follow me.”
July 9, 2021
Black Widow is out, y'all! And to celebrate Florence starring in the movie, Zach gives his GF the cutest gift to commemorate the achievement—a painting of her as Natasha Romanoff's little sister, Yelena Belova (who just may be the next Black Widow)!
“Go see 'Black Widow' this weekend and watch @florencepugh save the world!
I commissioned this painting from the legendary painter and comic book artist @philnoto . (the Russian says “Widow”.),” Zach writes on Instagram.
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