Despite battling substance addiction and experiencing the fallout of stints in rehab, Zac Efron “wouldn’t take anything back.”
“I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least,” Zac told The Hollywood Reporter this month. “Without those moments where you feel like your lowest, it’s impossible to appreciate the high ones. But I sit here in front of you today much happier and healthier than I’ve probably ever been.”
The California native, who first appeared on-screen in a 2002 episode of Firefly, became a household name (at least among a certain set) with 2006’s High School Musical.
By the time the movies wrapped in 2008, he felt conflicted about wanting to move on with more adult roles.
“I definitely felt that pressure. I’m not comfortable with it at all times,” he said of wanting to please fans after HSM wrapped. “The people that I saw and the people that I started to meet, the majority were young. These were kids, and I looked into their eyes and I saw myself as a fan, and it was shocking to be on the other end of that. You just want to please every single one.”
In his 20s by that time, Zac admitted that drinking and drug use became the only “hobbies” he had time for outside of his hectic work schedule.
“I was just so deep into my work, it was really the only thing I had. I clung to it in a way that became a little bit destructive,” Zac said, adding the social scene he was part of didn’t help. “It’s never one specific thing. I mean, you’re in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you.”
Last spring, Zac said it became clear to him that his drinking and drug use was more than casual. He entered rehab for the first of two times. Now, on the other side of treatment, Zac stays on track with Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“I think it’s changed my life. I’m much more comfortable in my own skin. Things are so much easier now,” he said of attending meetings. Still, he said it isn’t a simple as suddenly getting cured: “It’s a never-ending struggle.”
Now a couple of weeks away from the release of Neighbors, costar Seth Rogen says Zac’s performance will demonstrate just how talented he really is as an actor.
“On the grand scale of things, he’s doing a pretty good job,” Seth said. “He was a child actor, and you don’t need to have a sociology degree to see the pitfalls, especially as they transition to becoming an adult actor. But people are rooting for him. You can see his performance was incredibly good in the movie.”
Neighbors premieres nationwide on May 9.
