I will not be making any “Zac Efron recognized he had a problem when Nicole Kidman was repeatedly peeing on him on camera” jokes. This is serious! Zac Efron, that pretty little muffin of a “movie star” is apparently an undercover alcoholic. I know, I know, I was surprised too. Zac has never gone Full Lohan. He hasn’t even gone Half Lohan. He keeps his shenanigans pretty tightly guarded, minus the occasional incident where he might have been on the receiving end of a club beej. But now, according to E! News, it has confirmed that he briefly entered rehab a few months ago when he realized he had a problem:
Zac Efron is looking better than ever. And it really showed as the 25-year-old actor walked the red carpet at the Toronto International Film for the premiere of Parkland, his upcoming new ensemble drama about the JFK assassination.
“I’m good, real good,” he said.
And that’s great to hear because Efron actually completed a stint in rehab about five months ago, sources exclusively tell E! News.
“He’s healthy, happy and not drinking,” one source said. “He’s taking time to focus on working.”
He sure is.
Parkland, about the three days surrounding JFK’s death in Dallas, hits theaters on Oct. 4.
Efron plays Jim Carrico, the real-life doctor who was a 28-year-old first-year surgical resident when he became the first person to examine Kennedy at Parkland Memorial Hospital after the president was shot in Dealey Plaza.“The three days are really shrouded in so much mystery and controversy with conspiracy theories,” Efron said at TIFF. “Growing up, I didn’t know what was fact or fiction. But the simple truths of what transpired that we know for a fact are all in this movie.”
We’ll see even more of Efron in January with the release of That Awkward Moment, a comedy also starring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan about a group of young guys who vow to stay single.
Well… that information sounds like it was released to promote his new movie. But here’s what I think is really happening: Zac got a head up that one of the tabloids was going to “out” his rehab stay this week, so he released it late on Tuesday (the tabloids come out today). It will be interesting to see what version of the rehab story the tabloids will have – if it’s Star or the National Enquirer, it might have some dirty details about Zac’s rock bottom. If it’s Us Weekly or People, then the story will be a lot like this E! News story. Wait for it.
Update: Apparently, it wasn’t just booze, it was cocaine too. Damn, Zac.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Well, congrats and all the best to him. I like Efron. He’s tried to be smart about his career and seems like a decent, hard working guy.
Ditto.
I hope no embarrassing stories will come out about him. He’s clearly intent on keeping this private.
I agree, and this is the way to do rehab. Do it for yourself, do it for your health and the people who love you, and save the publicity machine until it’s successfully completed. Or don’t publicize it at all, as may have been his plan in the first place.
Good luck to him. He’s working hard, taking risky roles, and doing his best to overcome the Disney child-star curse. I hope he succeeds.
I like Zac Efron too. I’m psyched to see him branching out and taking some (relatively) interesting roles.
I’ve said it before around here but the only thing I’ve ever seen him in is Paperboy and I was surprised at what a decent little actor he is.
Nice to see that he took control of the situation too.
I still haven’t decided if I like the movie or not, but he did a great job in it.
Blue Marie – I just watched it and came away with the same feeling – thought the performances were great but not sure about the movie. If you think about it like this: Daniels showed every form of depravity from obvious to socially-condemned to morally, etc. I think he made his point. Hard to watch, but interesting in execution.
I feel the same way about the movie as you ladies but I thought the performances were all pretty solid. Although Lee Daniels can be hit-or-miss for me, the guy has something really special in his directorial style and a unique ability to really push the boundaries of the actors that he directs.
Not sure Efron would have been as good in the hands of a different director–and that’s not to take anything away from him, I just think Daniels gets the most out of his charges.
you’re right about that J., it was definitely not what I was expecting, although I’m not entirely sure what I thought it would be.
Now the DM is saying it wasn’t booze – it was cocaine.
Ether way, I hope he overcomes it.
I read a detailed comment by someone on Gawker about Efron’s shenanigans during the filming prior to rehab. It’s very interesting!
Number one comment by greys888 followed by details about how his eyes/pupils were so screwed up they had to go back and digitally correct them etc…
http://gawker.com/i-find-this-rather-interesting-since-word-from-a-frien-1337370962
I’m going to give Zac the benefit of the doubt and say he’s not stupid enough to get hooked on Meth. This person didn’t seem to know her drugs from her ass, and just made some weird assumptions based on Zac’s behavior. If he was disappearing and going on benders, it still was probably coke and booze. The fact he was able to work at all and not completely blow it is indicative that it was probably coke. You can still function, sort of, and get through your day.
Is it considered smarter to get hooked on coke (and as per TMZ, molly)? Anyone who touches hard drugs is a friggin moron.
Page six has a story about how he trashed an MGM room and caused close to 50,000 dollars worth of damage. Still think coke isnt so bad???!
He’s looking a bit like Adam Brody in the last picture.
I used to not be able to stand him – but that was the fault of that series of Disney movies he was on. He’s gone out and done more serious roles since, and has grown on me. Thank god they’ve let up on the mascara.
I hope he stays healthy and happy. He seems like a nice guy.
Wow. He was quite a mess!
I like this dude. He emanates a vibe of depth, emotional intelligence and vulnerability…this without seeing ANY of his flicks!
Good luck to him.
Bwahaahahaha! Zac Efron, depth, emotional intelligence. Funny………oh, you were serious?
I had a weird feeling something was not all good in Efron land. I hope he figures this out. Zac seems like a great guy, and probably got in over his head. Best wishes, Zac!
I have such high hopes for Zac. I think he’s a fabulous actor with a bright diverse career ahead of him. I wish him the best!
Fabulous actor? Wow let’s not overdo it shall we? Good for him for getting healthy but he is not exactly knocking out the world with his performances.
I hope he stays clean and the tabs don’t get crazy.
Good luck to him.
So is he out of the closet yet? I cant tell from that article.
te he…
but seriously, sucks to make something you probably want private public because you are going to be outed… the way of the beast i guess.
good luck to him and all those struggling with any addiction
It just goes to show that although we scoff at celebrities having problems in life, they are people too and we should always remember everyone is going through their own personal crisis at times.
Feeling mushy today. Best of luck to Zac.
good for him. (although I didn’t really notice him gone, cause he’s not normally papped that much?)
I’m not sure it’s a good thing that his PR floated the alcohol story when it was apparently cocaine and possibly ecstasy? Well chalk up another one on the ex-Disney kid scoreboard!
Yes, good for him and no, I had no clue
While I dislike anyone who does drugs, this actually makes Zac more interesting. It’s kind of funny that no one cared earlier this year when he went to rehab. In all seriousness, I hope he stays sober.
I agree this could actually work to his advantage and erase his “squeaky clean” image. Drugs are bad for a career, Disney is worse.
I don’t think it’s that people didn’t care; it’s that he/his management kept a lid on it. See all you other stars? It’s possible to deal with your problems in a dignified, private manner.
Good luck to him. He seems like a bright kid so I hope he takes something away from this but who knows.
Another entitled hollywood brat with too much money & time on his hands. I guess kudos to him for recognizing he had a problem & dealing with it. Do all these hollywood aholes doped up on coke realise it’s funding crime in the countries where it grown? We have conflict diamonds what or conflict cocaine?
The fate of a Disney Star. This is why I prefer Pepsi.
Good for him for not whoring himself out in the media. Glad to see he’s doing well now.
I like this young actor. Good luck to him.
I was really surprised by this. If you’d have asked me which of the HSM bunch was a coke head, I would have said Vanessa Hudgens. Hands down.
His relationship with Vanessa finally makes sense.
I really hope rehab helped him. I think it’s sad when anyone is addicted to drugs.
Can we stop with the “can he just come out of the closet” nonesense? I have no idea if Efron is gay, bi or straight and frankly I don’t think it’s anyone’s business if he is gay or bi.
Agreed. It’s always funny to me how on this website comments such as Joseph Gordon Levitt’s last week were applauded, and then this week it’s back to sexuality speculation.
Not surprising. For a long time he looked stoned in those red carpet pix. The sad thing is, he’s not the only young Hollywood kid who’s addicted to cocaine.
Disney kid. Something like this happens to all of them. Something’s rotten in the state of the Mouse House.
Whatever the substance was, good for him. THIS is the way you handle such problems. I’ve always liked him and the way he carries himself, he seems like a decent guy. All the best for him and I hope he’s okay!
I’m happy for him, I hope he stays straight. I wanted him to get the part of Christian Grey, he would of be perfect for it and he’s packing too.
Is it just me or does it look like he had a nose job?
It’s you.
This news is a little bittersweet to me. I’m happy he made the effort to get better and keep it private, but also sad he ran into the trouble in first place. I met him at an EW photo shoot ages ago and he was very sweet. I ended up standing next to him while the photographer was setting up at one point and we bumped into each other. Before I even had a chance to say, “Excuse me,” he apologized instead. Probably not earth shattering to most, but I certainly expected him to be less polite about it.
I’m hoping he stays sober and on track.