Florence Pugh is NOT here for rumors and rampant speculation about her love life!
The Little Women star took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to take on the latest talk. In case you didn’t see, Florence was photographed enjoying a beach day with pals, one of whom was Will Poulter, her co-star from 2019’s Midsommar.
While there was nothing untoward going on in the pics, nothing more salacious than sunscreen application help, the friends definitely looked INCREDIBLY HOT. We have to say, we’ve liked Will as an actor but recently he got onto that Marvel training program, bulking up to play Adam Warlock in the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, and the man is looking GOOD.
![Will Poulter Interview](https://perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Will-Poulter-Interview.jpg)
And this was the first time a lot of folks saw him all shirtless and tan, and, well… the rumor mill got started churning pretty quickly. (You can see the pics for yourself HERE btw!)
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Florence wanted to nip any new couple alert talk right in the bud, pointing out this was very much a group day and NOT a date:
“This is getting a little silly now. No, Will Poulter and I are not dating. We went to the beach with our friends, who are always about half a metre away from us in every picture, but have been cleverly cut out/framed out so that it looks otherwise. You can LITERALLY see my best friend in the corner of so many shots and Archie’s arms at the sides.”
She continued:
“I understand that the nature of this job is that you sometimes get your privacy completely bulldozed by paparazzi, but to fabricate this stuff actually does more damage than good.”
Only so much of the issue was the photos and the framing of the story, of course. That was just suggestion, it took fans falling into their shipping lanes to really make the rumors work. To those fans leaving comments Florence, who also recently became a superhero in last year’s Black Widow, quipped:
“Thanks for saying we look sexy.. doesn’t mean we’re doing the sexy.”
![Florence Pugh Instagram Story](https://perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Florence-Pugh-Instagram-Story-1.jpg)
In another post she made it clear why this supposition about her dating Will was so problematic.
She wrote:
“On another note, a very important note. There’s no need to drag people through this. Regardless of your opinion on who I should or shouldn’t be with, at the end of the day if you’re complimenting someone by trolling another person… you’re just bullying.”
“Your opinion on who I should or shouldn’t be with.” There it is. It was less the idea she might date Will and more the idea that she had left — or was cheating on — longtime boyfriend Zach Braff that bothered her the most.
There must have been quite a few comments from the brigade who hate her relationship. The couple have been going strong for years now, but the Scrubs star was almost twice her age when they started dating, something that bothered a great deal of stans. Florence has spoken out about this multiple times before; it’s clearly still a raw nerve for her.
The whole idea of complimenting one person by trolling another must have been about comments saying how much hotter and more age appropriate Will Poulter is.
![Florence Pugh Instagram Story](https://perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Florence-Pugh-Instagram-Story-2.jpg)
She then shared pics which included her other pals to really drive the point home that this was a group activity.
![Florence Pugh Instagram Story 3](https://perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Florence-Pugh-Instagram-Story-3.jpg)
![Florence Pugh Instagram Story 4](https://perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Florence-Pugh-Instagram-Story-4.jpg)
Will also weighed in by sharing Florence’s post, captioning it:
“By my good FRIEND @florencepugh – Thank you for calling out bullying when you see it
“
Ooh, what do you suppose that heart means?? Oh, we’re KIDDING, come on!
[Image via J. Crew/YouTube/Florence Pugh/Zach Braff/Instagram.]