Michael Jackson, hero to Zac Efron and to lovers of his High Pop Art, never got to meet High School Musical and The Greatest Showman star, but the two did have a tearful conversation on the phone once. Efron shared the story on The Graham Norton Show last week. While in Paris promoting High School Musical 3, director-choreographer Kenny Ortega got a call from the King of Pop and handed the phone off to the 21-year-old.
“I was like, This is Zac Efron. I’m a massive fan. I’m an actor. You’re like my hero? I didn’t know what to say and I was just at a loss for words and rambling on. And he said, That’s really nice. Can you hand the phone back to Kenny?†So Efron did. Then, unexpectedly, Jackson called again. “Oh, this is Zac from High School Musical? I was like, Uh, yeah. He’s like, I love what you do. I’m a huge fan. I love what you do,†remembered Efron. “And I lost it. I lost my balance. I think I fell over into the wall. I was like, Do you know who I am? What?â€
That’s when the tears started for Efron. “I like slid down to the floor pathetically and professed how much I loved him. I said like, You’re my hero. You’re the reason I do what I do. Thank you so much, Michael for everything. Thanks for showing me how to dance, how to believe in myself — I don’t know, how to shine. That made him cry. So we’re both crying to each other on the phone. He ended the whole phone-call conversation with something along the lines of, Hey, Zac. And I stopped crying for a second. Isn’t it awesome? I was like, What? And he goes, Dreams really do come true, don’t they?â€
I’m not crying. You’re crying.