#Zach Braff Finally Explains Why He’s Stayed Quiet About Florence Pugh Age Gap Criticism

Braff, 45, has faced heavy criticism for the 21-year age gap in his relationship with 24-year-old Florence Pugh. The Oscar nominee addressed the controversy herself for the first time back in April with an Instagram video where she condemned the “abuse” her man had received.

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In a new interview with Mr Porter, the Scrubs alum was happy to let his much-younger girlfriend have the final word on the subject. Explaining why he hadn’t commented himself, he said:

“She literally sat down, hit record on her phone and said that. I thought, ‘How could I possibly follow anything as intelligent and articulate as that?’ So, I chose not to.”

That’s all well and good, but we’d actually like to hear a bit more about his perspective on dating someone nearly half his age. The strangeness of their relationship is more his responsibility than hers, isn’t it? And while we agree that Florence is intelligent and articulate, Zach is a writer, actor and director… we think he could take a shot at articulating his own thoughts. Just seems like a bit of a cop out, in our opinion!

Regardless, on Sunday, the star indicated he was inclined to quit Twitter because it’s “f**king toxic,” although it wasn’t clear if it was the result of was continued harassment over his love life or some other source. We’ll just have to see if he ever opens up further about the issue.

I don’t expect to be on here much longer. I think it’s fucking toxic. But in the meantime, here’s a turtle trying to copulate with a ball. pic.twitter.com/DxKtUSFZmq

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) November 8, 2020

For her part, Florence has commented on the subject of her love life numerous times. As we touched on earlier, she first spoke out about the “bullying” after posting a birthday message for Braff on IG. In her video, she told her followers:

“I would never in my life — ever, ever — tell anyone who they can or cannot love. 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’re throwing at me.”

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The Little Women star went on to defend her “right” to the relationship to Elle, and later expressed on Sue Perkins‘ podcast:

“I’ve always found it funny, how I can be good enough for people to watch my work, and support my work, and pay for tickets, and I’m old enough to be an adult and pay taxes, but I’m not old enough to know who I should and should not have sex with. Once again, [it’s] making a young woman feel like s**t for no reason. I think I did feel s**t for awhile about admitting that, and then I thought, ‘How ridiculous is that?’”

At the end of the day, the only opinions that truly matter are the ones actually in the relationship, so… best of luck to the both of them!

[Image via WENN/Avalon/Adriana M. Barraza]