That Time Zac Efron and Michael Jackson Made Each Other Cry (Video)

“The Greatest Showman” star recalls emotional conversation on “The Graham Norton Show”

Back during his “High School Musical” days, Zac Efron once got the chance to talk to Michael Jackson on the phone… and that conversation resulted with them both in tears.

During an appearance on BBC America’s “The Graham Norton Show,” Efron recalled the conversation, which took place while he was promoting “High School Musical 3” in Paris with director Kenny Ortega. Efron was dining with Ortega — who directed several of Jackson’s world tours and would later go on to direct the posthumous concert film “This Is It” – when his phone rang.

Ortega handed Efron the phone and gave him the chance to gush to his hero, and gush is what he did. When Efron was done, Jackson said politely, “that’s really nice. Can you hand the phone back to Kenny?”

Efron was already freaking out about his first conversation with Jackson, when the phone rang again. This time, Jackson asked for him.

“I picked up the phone and I go, ‘Hello?’ and he goes, ‘Oh this is Zac from ‘High School Musical?’” Efron recalled. “And I was like, ‘Uh, yeah.’ And he was like, ‘Oh I love what you do. I’m a huge fan.’”

Hearing that one of his icons was a fan of his work was enough to reduce Efron to a blubbering mess, but he wasn’t the only one.

“You’re my hero,” Efron recalled telling Jackson. “You’re the reason I do what I do. Thank you so much, Michael for everything. Thanks for showing me how to dance, how to believe in myself — I don’t know, how to shine.”

“That made him cry,” he said. “We’re both crying to each other on the phone and he ended the whole phone call conversation along the lines of, ‘Hey Zac. Isn’t it awesome? Dreams really do come true, don’t they.’”

Check it out in the video above.

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