Florence Pugh, 28, admits romance with Zach Braff, 49, was ‘quite private until it was nasty’

nypost.com:

British Vogue in an interview published Wednesday about dating Braff, 49, and the criticism they faced because of their 21-year age difference.“I had to be public in the past because people were bullying me and bullying my partner,” said Pugh, who dated the “Scrubs” star from 2019 to 2022.“Mine and Zach’s relationship was actually quite private until it was nasty, and I could see the toll that it was taking on him and us and our families,” the Oscar nominee explained. “And that’s when I spoke out.”Pugh went on, “I think for anyone I’m with, I want to protect them.

It’s not nice knowing that people are saying the worst things I’ve ever read about someone that I love. So that was necessary.

I needed to talk about it. I think any relationship in this limelight is going to be stressed.”The pair started dating after working together on the 2019 short film “It Takes Time to Get There.”Their age gap prompted backlash from social media trolls, which forced Pugh to defend the romance in April 2020 after she shared a birthday tribute to Braff that elicited negative reactions. “Within about eight minutes of the photo being posted, I had about 70 people in the comments hurling abuse and being horrid, and basically bullying someone on my page,” she said in an Instagram video at the time. “I would never in my life ever, ever tell someone who they can and cannot love,” Pugh also said. “It is not your place.

And really, it has nothing to do with you. The abuse that you throw at him is abuse that you throw at me.”Braff addressed the “Midsommar” actress’ decision to come to his defense in a Nov.