Zac Efron is back on top of the world but he hasn’t forgotten what it felt like to be at a low point in life.

Just a year ago Zac found himself in rehab and battling drug and alcohol addiction.

He has since recovered and stayed fairly quiet about his problems.

Zac recently appeared on NBC’s Running Wild with Bear Grylls and opened up to Grylls about his struggles with addiction and what led to it.

Zac claims that skyrocketing into fame was as overwhelming as it was exciting and that although he tried his best to cope with fame, it soon became more than he could handle.

“It was just so quick — it was shocking,” Efron said about becoming a superstar after his breakout role in Disney’s High School Musical. “The challenging part was never the work, that was never it. It was sort of the in-between work — the social aspects outside of it; everywhere you go … and it can be confusing … and pretty soon you need a social lubricant.”

“Once it became that … it got to the point where I was caring less about the work and waiting more for the weekend where I couldn’t wait to go out and let loose and have fun,” he admitted. “But when Monday and Tuesday were difficult to get through, I thought, ‘This is bad,'” he continued.

Zac went on to say that he believes rehab saved his life and that he has learned how to handle fame and the temptations it brings.

“I just really never again want to take anything from the outside in to feel … comfortable in my present skin, and that takes a lot of work,” he said. “It’s just meditation and stopping and slowing down your brain.”

What do you think of Zac Efron’s recovery?

Image via Wikimedia Commons