Vanessa Hudgens Calls Marriage to ‘Best Friend’ Cole Tucker the ‘Best Thing Ever’ (Exclusive)

Vanessa Hudgens is soaking up her newlywed days. The High School Musical alum, 35, tied the knot with her MLB player husband Cole Tucker in a stunning Tulum, Mexico, ceremony just last month, and she tells PopCulture.com that the aftermath has been full of rest, relaxation and setting “realistic” new goals for 2024.

“I feel like it’s been lovely,” Hudgens told PopCulture of the days following her wedding. “I’ve given myself some time to just enjoy it rather than rushing back into work. I think it’s really important to slow down and enjoy these moments in life because they’re big life moments and you only get them once. So I have definitely taken the time to really soak it in.”

Hudgens gushed of being married to her husband, whom she met in 2020 in a Zoom meditation group, “It’s amazing. It’s the best thing ever being married to your best friend, and calling him my husband just fills my heart with the utmost joy every time.” She added, “It’s just so special. It’s just the most special thing.”

Taking on a new chapter of her life just as 2024 kicks off, Hudgens is looking to add some healthy habits into her routine, adding that while she hates the term “new year, new me,” she absolutely resonates with the phrase “new year, better me.” Hudgens is “setting realistic, ritualistic goals” for herself this year, telling PopCulture she’s focused on “things that I can actually achieve that aren’t super far-fetched.”

Some of those goals include meditating twice a week, which helps her to “recenter” and refocus. “I’ve also told myself that I am journaling twice a week, and I’ve set selected days for that because I feel like it’s so important to do, and if I don’t set a day for myself to do it, I just won’t,” she explained, “and then a month will go by and I’m like, ‘Oh no, so much life has happened and I haven’t written anything down.’ That’s devastating.”

Hudgens is also looking to incorporate plant-based nutrients into her lifestyle, which is why she’s partnered with Silk to be a part of their Feel Planty Good Challenge and to find a “really fun and easy way to incorporate planty goodness into your morning.” Silk’s Feel Planty Good Challenge is kicking off 2024 by challenging people to pledge to incorporate Silk into their breakfast for seven days in a row this January – and they can enter to win prizes including free breakfast life and free breakfast for a year on Challenge.Silk.com.

“I created a smoothie that is not your average smoothie,” Hudgens said of her partnership with Silk. “It’s called Beige Not Boring. There’s chocolate and peanut butter and some chickpeas [in the recipe], but it’s really delicious and really fun. … It just makes it really fun, really easy to get that plant goodness into your morning.” (More celebrity Silk recipes are available here).

Taking that feeling of goodness with her into 2024, Hudgens offered up some advice that’s resonated with her over the past year. “Listen to your intuition, listen to that inner voice,” she told PopCulture. “I feel like it’s easy to compare yourself to other people, but at the end of the day, what works for some may not work for you. Don’t run yourself too dry. Take care of you and truly listen to your intuition and what your body and mind is telling you is right for you.”