What’s up with Zac Efron’s crazy new look that shocked the public?

By now, it would be an understatement to claim that Zac Efron is anything less than a household name among Hollywood stars, and this can only mean that whenever something about the star starts to seem off to people, they are going to notice. This is exactly what happened when a video of the actor was posted on Facebook Watch where he was meant to promote Bill Nye’s Earth Day special. Instead, everybody got hung up on Efron’s new look.

He looked swollen

To be fair, if you’ve seen the video then you must have thought that something wasn’t right as well; his face looks swollen, as if he just got out of surgery and hasn’t had time to heal. Many fans began to worry that the fiery actor had gone and altered the face that charmed them ever since the High School Musical days, and shared their disappointment on the internet.

Numerous users expressed the opinion that Zac Efron had managed to ruin his beautiful face and they couldn’t believe that he would do such a thing. Others decided to take the news in a more humorous fashion as they used the situation to create memes that mock the superstar. Some memes compared him to human Shrek from Shrek 2 and others to handsome Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants.

Although the jokes got thousands of up-votes from people who found them funny, there were certain people who found it insulting to the star and came to his defense. One user wrote, “I feel so bad about Zac Efron, people are being so awful about his looks. He can’t stay young forever”.

For those of you who were unaware, the actor had a terrible accident back in 2013 where he broke his jaw, and was injured in a way that would require surgery to fix. This happened at his own home when Efron slipped in a puddle next to some stairs and landed on his jaw; his surgeon had to wire his mouth shut and suture the wound, but it was said that he was expected to make a full recovery. Fans have begun to speculate that, perhaps, some new complications arose from his old wounds and that led to him having to undergo another surgery.

People didn’t know what to think

 For now, fans seem to be divided into two camps: either he had cosmetic surgery to change his appearance, or he had to undergo surgery for health reasons due to old injuries. As of the writing of the article, Zac Efron has not addressed the situation.

Whatever the reason is, his appearance on the promotional video has sparked discussion about mental health and body positivity on Facebook and Twitter. The world of Hollywood is a cruel place where one small misstep can have negative implications on your career, so stars can stress out a lot about maintaining a good image for the public.

This means that their physical appearance needs to maintain the illusion of perfection, even though, deep down, they are just like the rest of us, as they aren’t immune to the passage of time. What would you do if your rise to fame was directly tied to you being portrayed as a handsome, youthful guy and then age caught up with you? Though, thankfully, Efron still has a long way to go before he starts to lose the charm that has captured the hearts of many.

How the actor feels about his appearance

In an interview with Sean Evans on the popular YouTube series Hot Ones he commented on how stupid maintaining a specific appearance now seems to him, while gorging on extra spicy wings. He said, “When I was done with that [Baywatch] movie, I realized that I don’t ever wanna be in that good shape again…. It’s so hard…. You are working with almost no wiggle room”.

The actor expressed how draining it is to try and maintain a muscular and lean physique without fluctuations and how you need to worry about every little thing, like your water and calorie intake, your nutrients, and consistently training every week so that you maintain what you have. 

 Lately, we have seen Zac Efron give himself more leeway with how he treats his body and cut down on some size, in return for some peace of mind and relaxation. The actor says that he isn’t giving up on fitness, but he will no longer stress out about maintaining a certain image.