Zac Efron’s rehab stint made tabloid headlines, but the feeling amongst Zac’s fans and the general public was less “ugh, another child star gone wild,” and more “aw, poor guy.”
Zac actually dialed our sympathy levels up to 11 last night when he guest-starred on the series premiere of Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
As you may have guessed from the title, the show features survival expert Grylls heading into the wild with random celebrities for a two-day lesson in survival.
Zac and Bear bro-bonded and feasted on worm-and-wild-egg omelets, but the most memorable moment of the episode came when Efron opened up about his substance abuse.
“Everywhere you go, to a certain extent there is press,” says Efron. “If you are leaving your house to go to the grocery store, there will be press there. It can be confusing. You spend a lot of time in your house, going crazy. Pretty soon, you need a social lubricant. Once I needed that, it became to go anywhere.”
“It was getting to the point where I was caring less about the work and waiting more for the weekend. I couldn’t wait to go out and let loose and have fun, but then when Monday and Tuesday were difficult to get through, I thought, this is bad.”
“I never again want to have to take anything from the outside into me…to feel good in my present skin. That takes a lot of work. It’s just meditation and stopping and slowing down your brain.”
Yes, Zac is wise beyond his 26 years. Sounds like when he said rehab changed his life for the better, he really meant it.