TORONTO — Zac Efron says he “made a lot of mistakes” and got hooked on drugs and alcohol.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 26-year-old actor said he failed as a role model following the success of movies like High School Musical and Hairspray.
“I mean, you’re in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood,” he explained. “Everything is thrown at you. I wouldn’t take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least.”
Efron entered rehab last spring but there was speculation he hadn’t beat his problem when a fall at his home broke his jaw (he says he slipped near an indoor fountain) and he was involved in a late-night incident in a seedy part of Los Angeles (he claims he was struck in the face when he tried to disarm a knife-wielding man).
Efron told THR he attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and is seeing a therapist.
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“It’s a never-ending struggle,” he said.
Efron said he shares a home with his brother and tries to “stay as low-key as possible.”
Without addressing speculation about his sexuality, Efron said he is single and “much more comfortable in my own skin.”
The star — who made the movies Hairspray in Toronto and Charlie St. Cloud in Vancouver — insisted he is grateful for his early success.
“It was hands down the most honest, carefree, passionate experience of my life,” Efron recalled.
In a separate interview with E! Online, Efron opened up about his tendency to strip down in movies like The Paperboy (in which he dances in wet briefs) and That Awkward Moment (in which he bares almost all).
Will he go all the way on screen?
“Full frontal? I don’t know, man,” Efron said. “Who knows? I’m not going to say yes or no yet.”
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