“For a while I really thought that the amount that it was hurting was the same amount of love that there was in the relationship.”

Florence Pugh opens up about unhealthy past relationship: ‘My body was in full panic mode’

"For a while I really thought that the amount that it was hurting was the same amount of love that there was in the relationship."

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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November 12, 2025 8:00 a.m. ET

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Florence Pugh on April 30, 2025. Credit:

Daniel Zuchnik/Variety via Getty

Florence Pugh has learned a lot about what makes a healthy relationship.

During a wide-ranging conversation on *The Louis Theroux Podcast*, the 29-year-old *Thunderbolts** actress got candid about a number of subjects, including dating in the public eye and walking away from a bad relationship.

Regarding the latter, she told Theroux, "I have [done] a fair bit of growing, a fair bit of working on myself. I think the further and further way you get from a relationship that was causing you pain, obviously, the love reduces. And so you realize just how much pain you were in."

Without naming the romantic partner in question or sharing when the relationship took place, Pugh revealed that she was once in an unhealthy situation — but explained that it took time for her to realize how bad it had become.

"For a while I really thought that the amount that it was hurting was the same amount of love that there was in the relationship," Pugh shared. "'This hurts so much because we care, it hurts so much because we love each other so much.' That's just not how love should be treated."

Florence Pugh attends "Thunderbolts" premiere in April 2025.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

She continued, "The danger with that is when things go wrong and there's little micro-aggressions of tiny versions of whatever abuse it is, whether it's verbal or emotional or manipulative, it kind of gets further and further away from what's normal. So then you find yourself at the end going, 'Oh, s---, a lot of weird stuff is happening. And I've normalized this.'"

When Theroux asked how Pugh got to her breakthrough moment, of realizing that the dynamic had grown unhealthy, she replied, "I had a breakdown."

The* Black Widow *actress revealed that her body played a major role in that realization, reacting to the situation before she herself understood what was wrong.

"When you are hurting your body — when you're not sleeping or you're drinking too much or you've got the s---s because you're so anxious — that's your body screaming at you," she said. "I would injure myself. I'd be chopping and I'd like, chop huge chunks out of my hands. I've just never done that since. My body was just in full panic mode."

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She added, "I was injuring myself in order to look after myself, which is a funny thing of my body asking for help. It became increasingly obvious that something wasn't right."

Pugh acknowledged that after walking away from that relationship, she is now in a much "happier" and healthier place.

Unfortunately, that's not where Pugh's relationship woes end. During her chat with Theroux, the actress revealed that she plans to keep her cards much closer to her chest when it comes to any present and future relationships. She explained that after dealing with "toxic" fans and bullying in the past, she better understands the importance of privacy as a public figure.

Florence Pugh and Zach Braff in 2023.

Jeff Spicer/Getty

"With relationships and with romance in this world, it doesn’t matter how much you speak on it or how little you speak on it, people don’t care," she said, referencing her relationship with *Scrubs* actor Zach Braff. "They want a story. They sort of want a reality show."

The* Don’t Worry Darling* actress dated Braff from 2019 to 2022. When they first went public, Pugh said she had to deal with an "insane amount of abuse being hurled at my relationship just because there was an age gap." (Braff, now 50, is 21 years her senior.)

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This peaked when Pugh posted a 2020 Instagram tribute to Braff, celebrating his birthday. The post was immediately inundated with comments criticizing their age difference. Pugh, finally fed-up with all the negative commentary, shared a video response calling out the bullying.

"I am 24 years old," she said at the time. "I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love, and I would never in my life ever tell anyone who they can and cannot love. It's not your place, and really it has nothing to do with you."

Looking back on it now, Pugh has no regrets. "I’ll always defend people that I love, I will always stand up for them," she told Theroux.

She also noted that it eventually became impossible to sit back and do nothing while Braff was attacked online.

"It was just really horrible to see someone that you are with receiving that, and it was never at me, it was only at him," she noted. "And I think I just needed to kind of just check everyone, and so I made a video and it got a lot of love and lots of people were supportive, which was great. I do think people online need to be reminded that we’re real."

Braff and Pugh quietly parted ways in 2022, but the former couple have remained friendly. The year after their split, they joined forces to promote their film, *A Good Person*, which Braff directed and Pugh starred in.

Listen to Pugh's full conversation with Theroux above.

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