Zac Efron Photo Sparks Male Beauty Standard Debate

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Why is Zac Efron trending and should we be concerned? When it comes to the second question, some people say yes and some say no.

Hollywood actor and personality Zac Efron ignited a frenzy on the Twitter social media platform this past weekend. The 33-year-old appeared on Bill Nye’s Earth Day Musical Facebook special on Thursday, April 22. And while he appeared on their small screens, many fans noticed a difference in Efron’s facial structure.

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A photo then started circulating online. Some Twitter users then started to question, or outright making jokes, that Zac Efron had gotten plastic surgery.

“Why did zac efron ger jaw filler why [sic],” one user tweeted.

“Zac Efron looks like human Shrek now,” wrote another.

https://twitter.com/Zeydeth/status/1385753218173579264?s=20

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Due to the cruelty of said jokes, we won’t be including any more specific tweets as examples. You get that idea. However, many fans came to Efron’s defense. Some proclaimed that Efron had not gone through plastic surgery and others condemned tweets mocking the actor.

“Maybe people should stop saying s**t about Zac Efron’s looks?” wrote one female user. “After he spoke about having an eating disorder? And the pressure of Hollywood? Also, I’m gay and I think Zac Efron is hot. Just saying.”

“This Zac Efron thing is grinding my gears,” another wrote. “Beauty standards affect men too! Y’all can’t call yourselves feminists and then sh— on men for gaining a little weight or naturally aging.”

https://twitter.com/marscuv/status/1385682537658335238?s=20

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But when did Zac Efron talk about having body issues? In a 2020 interview on the YouTube series “HotOnes,” Efron opened up about his struggle to maintain his “Hollywood heartthrob” image and body. Efron shared that he went six months without eating carbs while shooting Baywatch. The constant battle with societal expectations of him and his body led to him almost having a mental breakdown.

“That was actually a really important time to do ‘Baywatch’ because I realized that when I was done with that movie, I don’t ever want to be in that good of shape again. Really. It was so hard,” he confessed. 

“You’re working with almost no wiggle room, right? You’ve got things like water under your skin that you’re worrying about, making your six-pack into a four-pack. S–t like that it’s just not. It’s just stupid.”

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Efron briefly touched on the topic again in 2019 while appearing on the Ellen Show. While looking at a wax figure version of himself, Efron said, “It’s a little bigger than me. That’s too big. Don’t try and- For guys, that’s unrealisitic. I got very big and buff for that movie, but I don’t want people to think that’s the best way to be. Be your size. I don’t wanna glamorize this.”

Ellen, unfortunately, completely missed Efron’s point and then proceeded to pull his shirt up in order to get the audience to cheer.


Source: HotOnes, The Ellen Show,

4 thoughts on “Zac Efron Photo Sparks Male Beauty Standard Debate”

  1. He tells people to Just Be Their Size.
    Yet, every photo spread he does is either him working out to get his buff bod or on the beach showing off his buff bod.
    Double standard much?
    He knows his “regular” body wouldn’t get as much attention.

    Reply
  2. I think first of all he’s gorgeous and second whatever work he wants to do for himself is nobody else’s f ing business. grow up or are you just jealous.Rodney Marshall

    Reply
  3. So here’s Instinct once again with another bitchy story based on some random tweets (as if twitter was/is/should be reality/factual/the world). Not only is twitter not real life, just because some assholes queens (be they breeders or not or even asexuals) have no real life and decide that a version of anonymity allows them to be idiots on the interwebs is no reason for Instinct to waste the bandwidth treating this as news. But I guess when your reality and lived experience is Real Housewives….

    Reply

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