Vanessa Hudgens Defends Boyfriend Austin Butler After Jay Leno Calls Him ‘Fat’

Vanessa Hudgens leapt to the defense of her boyfriend, Austin Butler, on Wednesday night’s The Tonight Show, after host Jay Leno called him a “big, fat guy.”

The Spring Breakers star didn’t take kindly to Leno’s jokes about the actor’s appearance. Leno began by holding up a picture of Butler and stating, “You know I saw a picture of this guy… I don’t get it.”

Vanessa was clearly taken aback by Leno’s admission, and immediately questioned his stance, exclaiming, “You don’t get it?”

The 63-year-old late night star then held up a photo of the 22-year-old, Austin. But clearly, Leno was only teasing as the image simply showed off Austin’s very toned physique.

Vanessa then noted, “I’m so lucky he’s not here because he’d be terrified.” However, Leno wasn’t done with his ribbing as he added, “Look at that big fat guy! I can’t believe it.” Hudgens was quick to join Leno’s teasing though, stating, “Take it away!” She then insisted, “Um, no. He’s amazing!”

Austin and Vanesa originally met on the set of High School musical. However, Hudgens was still dating her co-star, Zac Efron at the time. They eventually broke up in December 2010 because of their work schedules, and Austin and Vanessa started courting in September 2011.

After the demise of her relationship with Efron, Hudgens admitted, “Long-distance relationships are hard no matter what. When you don’t have face-to-face time it’s just different. Having an iPhone helped, but it wasn’t the same.”

Hudgens has also been talking her upcoming role in the drama, Gimme Shelter, where she stated that she had to make herself “as ugly as possible.”

She told E! News, “It was fun, it was really fun. Just because it’s so rare that you get to do that. I put on 15 pounds, ate whatever I wanted. I’m not complaining. I cut off all my hair, which really set the tone. It was such a liberating thing and kinda reminded me—if I can do that, I can do this.”

Hudgens continued, “And then, I just kinda tried to make myself as ugly as possible, whether that was the way that I walked or my mannerisms or the tone of my voice. I wanted her to be strong and tough but broken because that’s what she is. You just see her transform into someone who actually finds love and really feels it for the first time and there’s nothing more powerful than finding love.”

You can check out Hudgens attempts to be hideous below: