By Sarah Sotoodeh and Justin Enriquez For Dailymail.com
23:01 07 Nov 2023, updated 23:31 07 Nov 2023
Zac Efron fans were left surprised at his unrecognizable face in a new interview he did for Entertainment Weekly.
The actor was doing a promotional interview with the magazine for his upcoming film The Iron Claw – which is about the life of professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich and his family.
In the video interview, Zach, 36, was seen with his fuller jawline and face transformation – something which he explained in 2022 – revealing it was the result of his shattered jaw after he smashed his chin on a granite fountain – after sparking plastic surgery rumors the year prior.
Fans appeared shocked at his appeared in the new interview, which dropped on Monday.
‘What happened to his face??’ one fan wrote, while annoying called his face ‘huge.’
Others compared him to characters like Thanos in Avengers and even went as far as naming Prince Farquaad from Shrek.
Other fans reminded everyone of his previous shattered jaw.
In 2022, Zac appeared on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine, and explained what happened to his face – after rumors of plastic surgery circulated since the prior year.
In his interview, Zac revealed that he had a nasty accident at home that caused the massive transformation in his face.
The star recalled how he slipped on a pair of socks while running at his home – causing him to smash his chin into a granite fountain.
Zac said that when he was injured, the masseter muscles on the inside of his face and jaw then ‘compensated’ for his injury causing them to grow in size – hence his remarkable transformation.
He says this explains why he looked so different at the time. ‘The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big.’
The High School Musical star also claimed to not know that he was a huge talking point on social media and had in fact gone viral for his different-looking jaw, until his mother called to ask if he had gone under the knife.
‘If I valued what other people thought of me to the extent that they may think I do,’ he told the magazine, ‘I definitely wouldn’t be able to do this work.’
In April 2021, Efron started trending on Twitter after he was seen on a video for Earth Day! The Musical displaying a more prominent square chin and heavier jawline.
In the clip, Efron eagerly called Bill Nye a ‘genius’ after hearing that he and Justin Bieber were working on a fictional Earth Day musical.
It led fans to speculate that the handsome star had sought plastic surgery.
Efron’s pal Kyle Sandilands had also spoke on his behalf – saying the Baywatch star would never do such a thing, comparing him to an oil painting by one of the Old Masters.
The Australian radio host, who has known Zac for years, shut down speculation during The Kyle and Jackie O Show at the time.
‘I would know if he’d had any plastic surgery,’ Kyle declared, before telling his co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson that ‘of course’ Zac hadn’t had work done.
He then said it would be pointless for the High School Musical heart-throb to have surgery because he’s already so good looking.
‘It’s like getting a Picasso and having a kid finger paint all over it. Why bother?’ he said bluntly.
Zac transformed his body for the role of Kevin Von Erich in the upcoming film The Iron Claw.
He co-stars with Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons as brothers who become huge wrestling stars in the 1970s – before facing tragedy after tragedy.
Kevin’s brother David died at age 25 under mysterious circumstances and his brothers Mike, Kerry and Chris all committed suicide.
The Iron Claw opens December 22 in theaters.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.