An unlikely friendship! During a new episode of Hot Ones that dropped on Thursday, April 2, Zac Efron revealed that he once ate breakfast at Leonardo DiCaprio’s house after sitting next to the actor at a sporting event.
The tidbit was revealed during a Hot Ones segment called “Explain That ‘Gram,” in which host Sean Evans shows the guest Instagram photos that they’ve posted and inquires about the context while the duo eat increasingly spicy chicken wings. When Evans, 33, pulled up a snapshot of Efron, 32, and DiCaprio, 45, sitting side-by-side at a basketball game, the Baywatch star recalled their encounter.
“Actually, what was really cool about that night, and this kind of sticks in my mind, is like, we weren’t talking at that point,” Efron explained. “And then I was just gonna wait for him, and sure enough he, like, had his hat down low and when the ball went to the other side he was like, ‘Hey man do you want to like go get breakfast tomorrow?’”
Not surprisingly, The Greatest Showman star took the Oscar winner up on his offer. “So he wrote his phone number down and handed it to me while the other team was scoring and nobody saw and I took it,” Efron star explained. “And he cooked me breakfast the next day at his house.”
According to the Neighbors actor, the menu consisted of some breakfast classics, but there was at least one hiccup along the way. “He cooked waffles and then he burnt those, and then he made pancakes,” Efron said with a laugh. “It was awesome.”
The California native revealed that he used the opportunity to pick DiCaprio’s brain about fame. “I had, like, a billion questions for him at that point. Definitely dealing with too much paparazzi presence in my life and, like, sitting next to Leo I was just like, ‘Dude how have you handled this for so long?’”
According to the High School Musical star, DiCaprio said Efron’s treatment was “a little bit different” than what he was used to.
When Efron arrived at the Oscar winner’s house for breakfast, he remembers about 10 cars followed him, which caught DiCaprio off guard. “He was like, ‘Yeah there’s never this many cars here,’” Efron said. “And he was like, ‘That’s insane dude.’”
The 17 Again star continued: “I saw in his eyes a little bit of the feeling that I consistently was having all the time which was just, like, stress and anxiety and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it man. You’re good.’”
As Efron noted, that simple gesture and level of understanding from DiCaprio really meant a lot to him. “I really appreciate that he took that time. It made me feel good about it,” he explained. “It helped me a little bit.”
The star of Quibi’s upcoming Killing Zac Efron added: “That’s the biggest hand you can extend I feel like in Hollywood, is looking out for somebody younger. So rock on Leo. Thank you, buddy.”
Though Efron made it to the end of the Hot Ones challenge and even took the last dab (a.k.a the final wing with the spiciest sauce) like a champ, the “adventurous eater” noted he is no longer able to stomach spice like he used to do.
“Something happened when I was traveling internationally. I thought I could eat spicy food, I thought I was a healthy spicy food eater, a good one even, but I went to a couple countries that really put a lot of spice into their food,” he said. “I almost died and then I came back. I have a healthy respect now for sauce.”
The near-death reference is seemingly a nod to when Efron was working in Papua New Guinea in December 2019 and had to be flown to Australia to seek medical attention after contracting a life-threatening infection. The actor later revealed via a social media update that he “did get sick” but “bounced back quick.”
