Photos from Zac Efron's Relationship History

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Save for a high school girlfriend Efron briefly mentioned in a 2014 interview with E! News, his onscreen High School Musical paramour was his first love. Just 16 (her) and 17 (him) when they met on the set of the beloved Disney hit in 2005, the teenage sweethearts unbelievably seemed primed to truly make a go of it, enjoying five idyllic years of red carpets, Coachella music festivals and even an appearance at that ultimate Hollywood prom: the Oscars. 

Having a partner at her side made navigating her meteoric rise to fame a little easier to handle, Hudgens would later admit. "The relationship kept me grounded," the 31-year-old told Shape, "and because I was with someone who knew me so well, I didn't need to try to be someone I'm not."

Sadly, two years after the HSM crew graduated from school in 2008, the couple called a wrap on their young love. "They were together for so long," an insider told E! News at the time. "It just ran its course." Hudgens was more apt to blame their suddenly conflicting schedules, telling Shape in that 2011 chat, "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 just wasn't the same." (And of course text-based communications come with their own set of pitfalls.) 

But while there may have been no hard feelings, there's also little nostalgia between the pair. Asked if they'd kept in touch Hudgens told Access Hollywood, "I completely lost contact with him."