"We haven't signed up for a reality show." Florence Pugh and Zach Braff secretly split months ago.

The internet is currently doing exactly what Florence Pugh doesn't want it to do.

It's unsurprising, really. Is there anything less controllable than social media? Not even Twitter can get a handle on Twitter.

And when the conversation is about a very famous young woman announcing her breakup from another famous man, who everyone collectively decided they disliked together... yeah, the dancing memes were inevitable.

streets saying florence pugh single pic.twitter.com/ID7XNLfLbl

— barbara (@sevenfruity) August 16, 2022

Florence Pugh & Zach Braff are no longer dating

pic.twitter.com/C4tX9u41qG

— bobby yaga (gooch) (@bobgoochman) August 16, 2022

In a new Harper's Bazaar profile, Pugh confirmed she had split from Scrubs star Zach Braff, after three years together, a while ago - but she didn't want us to know until now.

Because, well, the internet.

Let me explain:

Zach Braff and Florence Pugh's breakup.

In Harper's Bazaar, as part of its 2022 Icons edition, Pugh, 26, announced she and Braff, 47, had broken up earlier this year - and they had made a conscious decision to keep it out of headlines until now.

"We've been trying to do this separation without the world knowing, because it's been a relationship that everybody has an opinion on," Pugh explained.

"We just felt something like this would really do us the benefit of not having millions of people telling us how happy they are that we're not together. So we've done that. I automatically get a lumpy throat when I talk about it."

She was right to predict there would be a celebration.

Social media has been awash with gleeful reactions and gifs since the profile dropped. Ironically, it's also now home to people joking about trying to keep their feelings about the relationship's demise in check.

using every bit of my energy not to comment on florence pugh’s break up with zach braff as per her wishes pic.twitter.com/xJ76nMXrmF

— bill hater (@spanishpeaches) August 16, 2022

Pugh has often spoken out how much she disliked the 'circus' surrounding their relationship, which had fans messaging her about how much they disapproved or people making unfounded claims on social media.

Zach Braff and Florence Pugh's relationship.

It's believed Pugh and Braff first met while working on a 2019 short film made for Adobe Cloud, In The Time It Takes To Get There, which Braff directed.

Pugh made her relationship with Braff Instagram official on his 45th birthday, sharing a photo of him and their foster dog together. 

But within minutes, she had to "turn off the comments" on the post due to the incessant "hateful comments" she received.

People had very strong opinions about her relationship, mostly because of the 21-year age gap between the couple.

She spoke about the backlash in a series of interviews in the following year, making it clear that people had no right to try to dictate what she did with her life.

"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?" Pugh said on the Sue Perkins: An hour or so with... podcast.

"I think it bugs people that it's not who they expected," she told the Sunday Times in July 2021.

"But it's my life and I'm not doing anything to please people or to make it a better headline or story. I want to also be a person!"

The Black Widow actor had disabled comments on any photos she posted of Braff.

"It's so weird to me to go on to someone's page and sh*t on it," she said.

"That's so not my nature — to go and bully for the sake of bullying. It's such an odd thing that we've become okay with in the past 10 years of social media."

Florence Pugh's discomfort with the spotlight.

Pugh is one of the most exciting and busy actors of her generation. She has already been nominated for an Oscar, has a role in the Marvel Universe and has six films in post-production right now.

It's clear she loves her craft.

"Part of the reason we all do this is because we run away with the circus," she told Harper's.

"I think that one of the pulls for me is that I get to see places, see people, befriend people, fall in love with people, and then move on and do it again."

But there are downsides. If acting is a travelling circus, then fame is an overzealous clown you cannot get rid of no matter how big of a liability they are.

In Harper's Bazaar, Pugh said she found the interest in not just her relationship - but the intrusiveness of extreme fame in general - cruel.

"Whenever I feel like that line has been crossed in my life, whether it's paparazzi taking private moments, or moments that aren’t even real, or gossip channels that encourage members of the public to share private moments of famous people walking down the street, I think it's incredibly wrong.

"I don't think that people, just because they have this job, that every aspect of their life should be watched and written about. We haven't signed up for a reality TV show."

Feature image: Getty/Mamamia.