It’s no secret that Zac Efron up and sold his place and more officially moved to Byron Bay, Australia last year. While in the town, he met Vanessa Valladares, a waitress who allegedly quit her job to spend time roaming with the Baywatch actor. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly as recently as Efron’s birthday last October, but it seems there’s been trouble down under for the couple, whose romance reportedly has fizzled out.
News broke this week that Zac Efron and Vanessa Valladares may have called it quits. The couple, unlike some of their celebrity counterparts, did not take to social media to confirm or deny the news. Instead, Zac Efron has been busy sharing all kinds of photos of himself filming in Oz as part of his production on Netflix’s Down to Earth, a series which has commandeered a second season from the streaming service.
In short, he’s been really busy. If you’ve been keeping tabs on Zac Efron following his move to Byron Bay, the actor has had to find work in Australia in order to keep his visa there. He’s in demand as an actor and nabbed a role in the movie Gold during the pandemic. He’s also in recent weeks been out and about with his producer brother Dylan Efron filming in Australia for Netflix's Down To Earth.
The Daily Telegraph first reported the news and Zac Efron’s pal Kyle Sandilands seemingly confirmed it, noting on The Kyle and Jackie O Show that they had split, but it’s not as recent as, like, "yesterday."
It's not just The Daily Telegraph. I can also confirm after speaking with him yesterday. "It's only recent, but not like yesterday recent. But they've gone their separate ways.
Next up, Zac Efron will be heading to Canada to film the hotly anticipated Stephen King project Firestarter. Reports indicate that Vanessa Valladares had been expected to accompany the actor to the filming location, though if the reports hold true, that’s likely out of the cards now.
Though Zac Efron and Vanessa Valladares strove to stay low-key and mostly out of the public eye during the course of their relationship, they still got a lot of attention. The meet-cute of her being a waitress the actor had met at a general store was movie-worthy and then there was the fact that the person he’d met was also a Vanessa.
High School Musical fans everywhere couldn’t help but comment on Zac Efron’s relationship with his then-new-gal Vanessa, making comparisons between Valladares and Vanessa Hudgens. (Meanwhile, Vanessa Hudgens met her own partner Cole Tucker also during the pandemic on a Zoom meditation call.) Most of the fan comments about the Vanessa/Vanessa situation were in good fun, but it certainly shot the relationship into the limelight early on.
This is particularly true during a time when celebrity couples had attracted the attention of many people spending much more time on the Internet during the pandemic. If they have split for good, this certainly wouldn’t be the only major relationship to call it splitsville during this weird past 12 months either.
