Vanessa Hudgens is pregnant with first child, debuts baby bump on Oscars 2024 red carpet

And the winner of best baby bump goes to…

Vanessa Hudgens is pregnant and expecting her first child, with husband Cole Tucker. The actress debuted her baby bump at the 2024 Oscars, which took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The “High School Musical” star strutted the red carpet before taking over hosting duties on ABC’s “Countdown to the Oscars: On the Red Carpet Live!”

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Hudgens, 35, wore a gorgeous black gown accentuating her bump while keeping her hair simple in a high ponytail that cascaded down her back.

She and her baseball pro beau tied the knot during an ultraprivate ceremony in Tulum, Mexico, in December.

Some social media viewers were quick to express their surprise.

“Vanessa Hudgens is mother,” joked one user on X (formerly Twitter).

“In my head, nothing Vanessa Hudgens did would make her more beautiful until she appeared pregnant,” said a second user. “The pregnancy glow is very real.”

“Congratulations to Vanessa Hudgens for her pregnancy, although she has always been a mother to me for this song alone,” posted a third person.

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Hudgens’ appearance on the pre-award show program marks the third year that the “Princess Switch” star has hosted alongside Julianne Hough.

This year also marks one year since the “Tick, Tick… Boom!” star was spotted studiously avoiding ex-boyfriend Austin Butler during an Oscars 2023 Vanity Fair after-party.

In a clip posted to Instagram, Hudgens can be seen looking down at her phone, seemingly in an attempt to avoid eye contact with her ex.

During the interaction, Butler, 32, was standing next to Sharon Stone while waiting for a car outside of the star-studded event.

In the video, the “Elvis” star appears to glance up at Hudgens as she attempts to dash past him in an attempt to remain unnoticed.

It isn’t known if the pair, who dated for nearly nine years, from 2011 to 2020, spoke to each other once inside the event.

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The “Dune” star was recently dragged by several social media users after calling Hudgens his “friend” during a 2023 Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Roundtable.

“The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend, and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was singing along,” Butler said in the video. “And my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.’

“A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano,” he continued. “I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. That same friend was there and I was playing the piano. She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.’”

Shortly after the video was posted online, many social media users were able to connect Butler to Hudgens, who shared a similar story in 2019 while appearing on “Live With Kelly and Ryan.”

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Butler commented on the outrage after sitting down with Esquire in February.

“Oh, yeah, I learned a lesson with that one,” Butler told the outlet.

“I felt that I was respecting her privacy in a way and not wanting to bring up a ton of things that would cause her to have to talk.

“I have so much love and care for her. It was in no way trying to erase anything,” he added, saying that he said the comment because he values his “own privacy so much, I didn’t want to give up anybody else’s privacy.”