Zac Efron may be one of the biggest heart-throbs in the world, but even he gets starstruck.
In a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show, he reflected on a time he and late-pop star Michael Jackson cried over the phone to each other.
The Greatest Showman star told the UK talk show on Friday (local time) that while he never met the King of Pop face-to-face, he spoke to him briefly on the phone about a decade ago, when Jackson called movie director Kenny Ortega.
Efron said he was having dinner with the High School Musical director in Paris, when Ortega's phone started ringing.
"He hands me the phone and I was like, 'Hello?', and I hear, 'Who is this?' and I was like, 'Um, this is Zac Efron. I'm a massive fan and I'm an actor and you're like my hero'.
"I didn't know what to say - I was just at a loss of words," Efron said.
The actor continued to explain that he kept rambling on the phone, until Jackson interrupted him and said: "That's really nice. Can you give the phone back to Kenny?"
Efron said he was "freaking out" and it took him a while to gather himself, after the very short conversation. Before he knew it, Ortega was handing him the phone again, as Jackson called back a second time.
"I picked up the phone and I go, 'Hello?' and he goes, 'Oh, this is Zac from High School Musical, and I was like, 'Uh, yeah'.
"And he was like, 'Oh, I love what you do. I'm a huge fan'," Efron said.
The actor said he managed to thank Jackson for showing him how to dance, how to believe in himself and how to shine.
"That made him cry," Efron said. "We're both crying to each other on the phone and he ended the whole phone call conversation along the lines of, 'Hey Zac. Isn't it awesome? Dreams really do come true, don't they?'"
Newshub.
