Zac Efron, High School Musical star, never met his hero Michael Jackson face-to-face but they did share a very emotional conversation once upon a time.
The Greatest Showman star, now 30, recounted how he unexpectedly ended up on a call with the pop icon when he was 20 or 21 years old. The actor was promoting one of the High School Musical films, and while having dinner with director-choreographer Kenny Ortega, was suddenly handed over the phone.
'[Kenny] 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",' he recalled. 'I didn't know what to say and I was just at a loss for words and rambling on.
The 30-year-old said that the 'Thriller' singer, who passed away in 2009, listened patiently, before telling him: 'That's really nice. Can you give the phone back to Kenny?'
The story didn't end there, though. Appearing on the New Year's Eve edition of The Graham Norton Show, Efron continued to say that the phone suddenly rang again, with Jackson on the other end asking, 'Oh, this is Zac from High School Musical? I love what you do. I'm a huge fan.'
'I lost it,' Efron says. 'I lost my balance. I think I fell over into the wall. I was like, "Do you know who I am? What?" And I just start crying. I was a mess.'
The actor once again told him that he was his hero, thanked him for showing him how to dance and how to shine.
He added, 'That made him cry. And so we were both crying to each other on the phone and he ended the whole phone conversation with something along the lines of, 'Hey Zac.' And I stopped crying for a second. 'Isn't it awesome?' I was like, What? And he goes, 'Dreams really do come true, don't they?''
Cute.
Watch the full clip below:
