NEWSAustin Butler's 'Cocky, Wild Boy Behavior' Ways Spelled Trouble for Kaia Gerber: Source
Austin Butler's 'wild' lifestyle caused him and Kaia Gerber to split, a source said.
June 21 2025, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber ended their relationship earlier this year, and sources close to the situation reveal the split was anything but amicable.
An insider told a news outlet that the supermodel has been candid with friends about the reasons behind their breakup.
Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber started dating in late 2021.
"Kaia and Austin's relationship ending was a slow-motion car wreck that everybody saw coming a mile away," the source explained. "Absolutely, the knee-jerk reaction is that Austin's cocky wild boy behavior was going to eventually doom them, because Kaia is such a polite, civilized and humble girl by comparison."
At just 23, Gerber and 33-year-old Butler ignited romance rumors in December 2021 after they were seen enjoying a yoga session together. The couple made their red carpet debut a few months later in March 2022, but kept their romance largely private, showing glimpses of their affection at select high-profile events.
Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber chose to keep their relationship private.
Fans speculated that a wedding was on the horizon when the couple purchased a home together in May 2023.
Celebrity gossip account Deux Moi suggested that Butler proposed earlier that same year but wanted to keep it low-key, asking, "Austin Butler [and] Kaia Gerber just bought a house together… do we think this is the next step???"
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- Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler Split Since the Actor 'Comes From a Different World' Than the Model: 'Everybody Could See That'
- Everything We Know About Kaia Gerber & Austin Butler's Relationship
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However, their three-year romance came to a halt in January, as TMZ reported the pair parted on what seemed to be good terms. Yet, the insider insisted that Gerber had every reason to feel uneasy about the Elvis star.
"Nobody around her was mistaking him for some innocent angel," the source added.
Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber broke up in early 2024.
"He is who he is, and as much as Kaia tried to change him, the only way he stops drinking and gives up his childish antics is if he makes that decision himself," the insider explained. "In Austin's defense, he has gotten very famous very quickly, and executives suck up to him while young women go nuts for him when they see him in person."
Among their mutual friends, there's a growing sentiment that Butler "blew it" with Gerber, with many noticing a pattern in his relationships. The source recalled his past with Vanessa Hudgens, stating: "Vanessa Hudgens is a wonderful, amazingly cool and talented person, and Austin just stood by and let that relationship totally implode over basically the same issues."
Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens dated for almost a decade but split up in early 2020.
Butler and Hudgens began dating in 2005 on the set of High School Musical but officially debuted as a couple on the red carpet in February 2012. They remained together for nearly nine years before their breakup in January 2020, with Hudgens moving on to marry Cole Tucker just a year later.
