There’s no doubt about it— Zac Efron has come a long way in his career since High School Musical. He’s making movies with heavy hitters like The Rock, Hugh Jackman. and pretty much every beautiful woman in Hollywood. Not to mention he’s grown up to be truly drool-worthy. He showed us a pretty incredible performance in The Greatest Showman and we have a feeling that it’s just the start. As he makes his way in Hollywood from a child actor to an adult one, there have been some stumbling blocks he has had to face.

When it comes to Efron, it seems that he’s always in a movie, there’s always something new coming out for him and that’s definitely a good thing.

He definitely hasn’t always had it easy, though, and some of the decisions he has made over the years have been questionable. You might be surprised to hear about some of the things that he’s done over the years that has raised an eyebrow or two. We all make mistakes, and it’s not the end of the world. The best thing about Efron is that he is always striving to be a better person and not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Which is certainly refreshing in Hollywood. You may think that you know everything there is to know about Efron, but you would probably be wrong. Check out these 15 questionable things fans can't ignore about Zac Efron.

The Day He Celebrated Himself And Martin Luther King

Normally, when Martin Luther King Day comes around, you see all sorts of posts honoring him. Zac Efron made a big no-no when he made a post that congratulated himself at the same time as King. The post that he made on social media went like this:

"I'm grateful for a couple things today: Martin Luther King Jr. and 10 million followers on IG #MLKDay." 

Clearly, it didn’t go over very well and he was skewered on Twitter. He took down the post and apologized. “I have nothing but the greatest admiration and respect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I realize that last night's post was completely insensitive and I apologize to anyone who I may have offended. So sorry. Z.”

That Time He Lied And Said He Got Advice From Leonardo DiCaprio

Apparently, Leonardo DiCaprio has a huge fan in Zac Efron who has worshipped the actor for some time. But he told interviewers one time that Leonardo DiCaprio gave him some pretty good advice. The legendary advice that DiCaprio allegedly gave him was, “There’s only one way you can mess this all up. Just take substances.” Of course, the magazine printed it and Efron later said he was just joking about the whole thing. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that to him,” Zac said after he saw the comments in print.

“It was a joke, it was meant completely in sarcasm, but it came across so differently in print. I was devastated.

I tried to call Leo and say, ‘Dude, I’m so sorry, that’s not at all what I meant to say.’ It was the worst feeling in the world.”

He Struggles To Be His True Self

He’s been through a lot over the years and that includes issues with alcohol abuse. Every day it seems Zac Efron struggles to be the truest version of himself and to rise above things that he’s done in the past. We can understand that a struggle like addiction can’t be easy to overcome and he’s certainly not the first young actor that has struggled with it. He stated that the one thing that he liked about his character in The Greatest Showman was the fact that he was striving to be his true self and in the end, that’s all that matters.

“Every day I wake up and I have to start with again the man in the mirror and it is like starting from square one all over again.

You are never perfect, you wake up every day and there’s a new set of challenges,” he said.

He’s Been Teased For Past Mistakes

Welcome to Hollywood Zac Efron. The worst thing about being in the public eye is that all your mistakes get to be part of the public eye as well. It truly is best just not to make any mistakes in Hollywood because the media will put a spotlight on it. Over the years, Efron has certainly made mistakes, but we don’t, by any means, think that he’s a bad guy. We’ve all probably done a few questionable things in our lifetimes, and he’s still young. "No matter who you are, you face challenges growing up," he says.

"You go with your things, you learn, you have to. It's impossible to lead an honest and fulfilling life as a man and not make mistakes and fess up to them when you need to.

But it's especially humiliating when they happen to be so public and so scrutinized."

He Was Part Of A Support Group

Zac Efron had to admit in 2014 that drinking alcohol got the best of him. It’s certainly been one way that young Hollywood has coped with living in the spotlight, but it’s refreshing to see an actor change his ways and acknowledge the fact that he was on a bad road. He told The Hollywood Reporter that at one time he was drinking too much.

"It's never one specific thing. I mean, you're in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you.”

We totally get it, it’s not easy for anyone young in Hollywood to have to deal with the ins and outs of fame. But for Efron, he knew he had an issue and he dealt with it.

He Got Into A Tussle With A Man On The Street 

Apparently, it was life or death, so we’re not sure we blame him. It is the last thing you would expect to hear about a movie star. The story goes that his car broke down in a bad part of town and that was when his friend was attacked by a homeless man. "A homeless guy, or vagrant, tapped on the driver's side window. Before I knew it, he [the friend] was out of the car, and they started fighting. I saw that [the homeless man] was carrying some sort of a knife, or shank, and I got out of the car to disarm him. At some point, he dropped the knife, and I got hit pretty hard in the face — and almost instantly the police were there to break up the fight."

He Took Some Time To Recover

Zac Efron has stated that he was addicted to substances as well. The same thing happened to well-known stars such as Robert Downey Jr., Lindsay Lohan, Corey Haim, and even Judy Garland. The one great thing about Efron is that he did something about his problem before it ruined his career as it did for Haim and Lohan.

"When you have success young, and you accept the good things, you have to accept all of it. You have to accept the moments of glory but also a great responsibility. And that responsibility, to some degree, involves being a role model.

At the same time, I'm a human being, and I've made a lot of mistakes. I've learned from each one."

He Turned Down A Record Deal From Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell doesn’t just throw around praise, so if he says you’re a good singer, then you probably are. We’ve noticed that in the second and third movie from the High School Musical franchise that it was Zac Efron’s real singing voice and he’s pretty darn good.

Cowell offered a record deal to Efron stating that he could “make millions.” Efron turned it down, however, because he stated that his main interest was in acting and he really wanted to pursue that.

Whether that was a questionable thing for him to do or not is for you to decide. He’s made a pretty great career in Hollywood, so we don’t think he has any regrets about his decision. We wonder how different his life would have been had he became a musician first.

He Had To Get His Jaw Wired Shut

Many people have wondered if this incident had something to do with his addictions, but considering it was after his stint in rehab, we have to hope not. The story goes that he was running around his home and he slipped and smashed his face into a fountain. That’s right, he has a fountain in his home.

"I have a fountain in my house. That's kind of dope, right? So I was running through and slipped on water and hit my chin on the fountain in my house. It's not a big fountain, but it's a fountain in my house."

His brother Dylan was there at the time and one look at Zac’s face and he knew they had to go to the hospital. "It was pretty gnarly," said Zac.

He Deals With Anxiety 100% Of The Time

When it comes to his past, he’s just trying to get past it. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think about things all the time. Apparently, Efron is an insomniac and it probably has a lot to do with the fact that he can’t shut his brain off.

He said that he constantly wrestles "with thoughts, just thoughts, just overthinking things." Part of that has a lot to do with being alone and trying to find love.

Though judging by the rumors, he might not be single for very long. He has spoken about "the struggles of dating, of falling in love, of searching for love and being there for your friends when they need you. There's no question that to receive anything great, like love or respect, or to better yourself, you have to give a piece of yourself away."

He Has A Connection To Tom Cruise

We have to be suspicious right away because half the time we don’t know if Tom Cruise is genuinely interested in knowing someone or if he’s trying to convert them to Scientology. Zac Efron didn’t always know how to ride a motorcycle and you might be surprised to find out who taught him. When he took the role in the movie New Year’s Eve, it meant he had to ride around on a Vespa. So, he had to learn how to do that.

At a party one night, Cruise randomly went up to Efron and asked him if he could ride. He actually invited him over to his home to teach him.

Could you imagine being invited to Tom Cruise’s home to hang? Cruise spent two hours teaching Efron to ride a motorcycle one day.

He Struggles Daily 

It’s not surprising — just because you go to rehab, it doesn’t mean that you won’t have the desire to fall back into old bad habits again. It can be a lifelong battle. He has admitted that "it's a never-ending struggle." We think he’s doing pretty good all things considered and his co-star Seth Rogen from the movie Neighbors agrees. "On the grand scale of things, he's doing a pretty good job," says Rogen.

"He was a child actor, and you don't need to have a sociology degree to see the pitfalls, especially as they transition to becoming an adult actor. But people are rooting for him.

You can see his performance was incredibly good in the movie." He definitely has a lot of people in his corner and that’s a good thing.

He Lacks Confidence

He’s been through a lot and has admitted that there are parts of his past that still haunt him. People who have dealt with addictions and are haunted by their pasts will often admit that at the time, they had a hard time liking themselves. It’s totally understandable and part of the process of healing. When he first met Seth Rogen, he felt the urge to compliment him.

"I blurted out: 'Hey, Seth, my name's Zac. I'm an actor, and I just wanted to tell you that I really love your work. And thank you for everything you've done.'

And he goes, 'Are you serious?' And I was like, 'Yes, I'm 100 percent serious.' And he goes, 'Aw, man, I just wanted to hate you.' And I'm like, 'Seth, I get it. I don't even like myself at this point.'”

He Broke His Hand During A Scene

When he was filming Neighbors, he said that it was a surreal experience because most of the shooting was like one big party. What was worse was that he broke his hand during filming a scene where he punched Dave Franco. “It was amazing and really scary," says Rogen. "I couldn't believe it. In the scene, he punches Dave and maybe hits the ground.

He kept going for a while, and slowly his hand was getting very swollen. He had to have surgery. We were budgeting what it would cost and writing it into the [script]. But he was back a day or two later.

We didn't change our shooting schedule at all." He’s a real trooper and he obviously has a great work ethic.

He Was Embarrassed At The Lorax Premiere

It was definitely one of the most embarrassing red carpet moments, at least for Zac Efron. We’re not sure what was going through his mind when he got ready for the premiere and shoved a condom in his pocket. Efron did the voice of Ted from the Disney movie The Lorax. The movie might have been PG, but his intentions weren't. When he was walking the red carpet, the condom fell out of his pocket and he quickly picked it up and gave a little smirk to everyone who happened to be watching at the time. “I did,” Efron said, remembering the embarrassing moment with a laugh. “I never really had a pocket-checking policy prior to going on the red carpet before, but now we fully instated one.”

References: hollywoodreporter.com, huffingtonpost.com