Zac Efron Says His ‘Baywatch’ Body ‘Wasn’t Sustainable’ and Made Him Miserable

Zac Efron is best known for his chiseled physique in the 2017 movie Baywatch, but the actor is now speaking about the mental toll that transformation took and why he refuses to put himself through it again.

The High School Musical star, 38, reflected on how relentlessly chasing physical perfection left him deeply unhappy in an interview with Heat magazine, via a Wednesday, June 17 report in the Daily Mail. “The shape I was in for Baywatch wasn’t sustainable,” he said. “I wasn’t happy living the way I was to get in that shape. These days, I place a much bigger priority on my mental health.”

According to the outlet, Efron said the shift in priorities has been a long time coming. “For too long, I only focused on work and I neglected my personal life,” he said. “It’s taken me a while to get there, but my biggest motivation is to be happy in both my professional and personal life.”

The Iron Claw actor added that his message extends beyond himself, calling on men to hold themselves to more realistic standards. “I think men, just like women, have to be realistic,” he said, per the Daily Mail.

Offscreen, the actor appears to be building the kind of life that supports his new mindset. As First For Women previously reported, Efron has been putting down roots in Australia, where he purchased a 128-hectare plot of land near Byron Bay in New South Wales back in 2020. That decision he made on the advice of fellow actor Russell Crowe.

“Russell Crowe told me it’s a good idea to get land in Australia; he did it when he was young, and it was one of the things he told me he is extremely proud of, that decision,” Efron told the Australian Financial Review last year. “It set him up really well for the future, and it’s a piece of advice and I followed it.”

In that report, the Greatest Showman star described the property as the site of “potentially the coolest house ever built.” Designed in collaboration with eco-designer Joost Bakker, the nearly 9,000-square-foot home will be constructed largely from hemp and feature six bedroom pods, a rooftop garden and sustainable materials including recycled oyster shells and agricultural waste products — all at an estimated build cost of $2.65 million.