Months before the 'Scrubs' alum explains why he chose not to weigh in on the debate, his 21-year-younger girlfriend slammed trolls for criticizing their relationship.

• Nov 10, 2020

AceShowbiz - Zach Braff chose not to weigh in on the age gap debate surrounding his relationship with Florence Pugh after his girlfriend "intelligently and articulately" shut down trolls.

The 24-year-old slammed trolls who criticised her for dating Zach, 45, back in April, sharing a video on her Instagram page in which she said: "On Monday, I posted a photo in honour of Zach's birthday and I wrote a birthday message underneath. Within about eight minutes of the photo being posted, I had about 70 per cent of the comments hurling abuse and being horrid - basically bullying someone on my page. It is the first time in my entire Instagram life that I've had to turn off the comments on my page."

"I've never been an Instagram page that encourages that (sic). I've never been an Instagram page that likes that toxic vibe... I do not need you to tell me who I should and should not love and I would never in my life tell anyone who they can and cannot love. It is not your place."

Zach opened up to MR PORTER's digital magazine about the controversy and why he didn't also respond to trolls, explaining that he didn't think he could follow the "Midsommar" star's impassioned speech.

"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," he said.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zach has reached a whole new fanbase with his and "Scrubs" co-star Donald Faison's podcast "Fake Doctors, Real Friends".

"I think one of the reasons it's a hit is that it feels like eavesdropping on our friendship," he grinned.