Love is dead.
Sorry if we sound a little dramatic, but how else could we respond. Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler have broken up after nine years together.
An insider has confirmed to Us Weekly that Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler have broken up.
"Vanessa and Austin are officially broken up," the source confirms.
The insider adds: "And Vanessa has been telling those close to her about their breakup."
The unnecessarily attractive couple began dating in 2011 and were together for nearly nine years.
Just last year, Vanessa and Austin were sharing mildly steamy photos in their artsy Halloween costumes.
Then Vanessa was congratulating Austin on landing the role of Elvis -- for which he dyed his blond locks black.
For the better part of a decade, they had taken turns congratulating each other.
It was her turn when Austin got the lead on The Shannara Chronciles. It was his turn for each of Vanessa's TV Christmas movies.
But curiously, on December 13, Vanessa and her sister seemed to celebrate her birthday without Austin present.
Sure, her sister had surprised her on set, but that's the sort of thing to which you would invite the birthday girl's long-term boyfriend, right?
Then, at the end of December, Vanessa documented her trip to Switzerland.
Austin was nowhere to be seen. Fans have been dreading this breakup confirmation for weeks.
Not all celebrities take to Instagram with the same zeal or same style.
But fans have come to realize that it has been months since either Austin or Vanessa shared a photo of the other.
We still do not know, even with this inside source's confirmation of the split, when precisely the breakup occurred.
Hopefully, we'll learn more in the future, when one or both of them feel ready to share more.
This is bound to be hard for fans, in part because there's no clear "bad guy" here. That's often the reality of breakups.
Vanessa is beloved. Austin is beloved. After nine years together, the venn diagram of their fan bases is virtually a circle.
Our hope is that they will put out a joint statement and explain that this was an amicable, low-drama breakup.
Sometimes (often, in fact), people just grow apart, especially when a couple is made up of two very busy actors.
Prior to hooking up with Austin in 2011, Vanessa's previous long-term boyfriend was another great-haired hottie actor, Zac Efron.
Vanessa isn't just a skilled actress with a beautiful singing voice; she also has great taste.
We're sure that some fans are impatient to see which twinkish thirst trap actor she dates next.
We should all keep in mind that she and Austin both likely need to take time to recover emotionally from their breakup.
Our hearts go out to Vanessa and Austin as they adjust to their split status.
Most of all, our sympathies go to their dog, Darla.
Breakups are difficult on dogs, who probably do not understand why someone they've known for years -- in this case, her whole life -- suddenly isn't around anymore.
Okay, great, now we're crying about someone else's dog.
