Zac Efron says Baywatch training caused him to suffer from insomnia and 'pretty bad depression'

Zac Efron may have been in the best shape of his life while shooting the 2017 film Baywatch, but the actor recently revealed it wasn't exactly smooth sailing to get there.

The High School Musical star reflected on his intense body transformation for the film — which saw him make a splash on-screen with his washboard abs and massive muscles — and how his strict diet and exercise routine ended up taking a serious mental and physical toll on his health.

"I started to develop insomnia, and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time," Efron told Men's Health. "Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time recentering."

Efron went on to acknowledge that his film physique isn't something that is truly "attainable" in the real world. "There's just too little water in the skin. Like, it's fake; it looks CGI'd," he explained. "And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don't need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent body fat."

This isn't the first time that Efron has shared he has no inclination to return to his old beach bod anytime soon. During an episode of Hot Ones in 2020, Efron revealed that he didn't "ever want to be in that good shape again" after finally wrapping the film, which also starred Dwayne Johnson and Alexandra Daddario.

"Really, it's like, it was so hard. You're working with no wiggle-room. You've got water under your skin which you're worrying about making your six-pack into a four-pack," he told host Sean Evans. "It's just stupid. It's not real. I'm happy that it worked and that it got me through it. I may do it again if it was something worthwhile, but I would wait until it gets to that."

Efron has also previously issued a word of warning to those who are thinking about wading into the deep, dangerous waters of unattainable fitness standards.

"That's too big. For guys, that's unrealistic," he said on The Ellen Show in 2019. "I got very big and buff for that movie, but I don't want people to think that's the best way to be. Like, be your size... I don't want to glamorize this."

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