Zac Efron reveals he ‘fell into a pretty bad depression’ while training for Baywatch

‘Something about that experience burned me out,’ actor said

Zac Efron has revealed that he “fell into a pretty bad depression” while training for the 2017 film Baywatch.

The 34-year-old actor starred opposite Dwayne Johnson in the comedy – based on the original 1989 series of the same name – about a group of lifeguards tasked with saving the future of their bay from a criminal plot.

In a new interview with Men’s Health, Efron described the preparation he underwent to bulk up for the film, which included taking diuretics and overtraining.

“That Baywatch look, I don’t know if that’s really attainable. There’s just too little water in the skin. Like, it’s fake; it looks CGI’d,” the High School Musical star admitted.

“And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don’t need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, two to three per cent body fat.”

While he clarified that he didn’t want to sound like he was complaining, Efron said he wanted to make others interested in obtaining the “Baywatch body” aware of the devastating effects the training had on his health.

“I started to develop insomnia,” he explained. “And I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time recentering.”

Zac Efron in ‘Baywatch’ (Paramount Pictures)

He added: “Ultimately, they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up.”

At the time, he wondered: “What it would be like to not have to be in shape all the time?

“What if I just say, ‘F*** it’ and let myself go? So I tried it, and I was successful. And for all the reasons I thought it would be incredible, I was just miserable. My body would not feel healthy; I just didn’t feel alive. I felt bogged down and slow.”

Now, at this point in his life, Efron explained that both experiences have taught him to seek balance.

“I’ve really been taking time to focus on, you know, self-fulfilment and trying to find my groove,” he said.