Austin Butleris grateful for his bond withSelena Gomez.

TheElvisactor has nothing but love for theOnly Murders in the Buildingstar, one of his longest friends in the business. “I’ve known her for so many years, so it is nice to get to share space with somebody for a long period of time, and I’m just so proud of her,” Butler, 31, toldExtraabout Gomez, 30.

The two actors go way back to when Butler appeared on an episode of Disney Channel’sWizards of Waverly Place, which starred Gomez as teen wizard Alex Russo.

In the 2010 episode titled “Positive Alex,” Alex casts a spell on herself to be more positive in order to gain the affections of her love interest George (Butler) since he finds Alex’s regular pessimism a turnoff.

Eric McCandless/Disney Channel via Getty

Selena Gomez, Austin Butler, Wizards of Waverly Place

In an interview for the latestVanity Faircover story on Wednesday — which features both Gomez and Butler — theGolden Globe winnershared how the “Same Old Love” singer sent him an old photo of their time together on theWizards of Waverly Placeset while he was portraying rock legendElvis Presley.

“When I was filmingElvis,Selena found this photograph of the two of us when I did a guest star thing on her showWizards of Waverly Place.And she sends it to me, just going, ‘Wow, remember this?'” Butler recalled, adding, “It feels like another life.”

“When you’re a child actor, you see so many people come in from Texas or something, and at a certain point they may quit or go back. We’re just so fortunate to have careers in this industry for this amount of time,” he continued.

“Her documentary really moved me as well. Getting to see that, I thought that was so brave. I feel really honored to be in her company,” Butler toldExtra.

In the emotional film, the pop star shares her physical and internal struggles — from body image issues to painful lupus flare-ups and her ongoing journey with mental health.

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source: people.com