'I really appreciate that he took that time.'
Zac Efron still remembers the advice Leonardo DiCaprio gave him more than a decade ago. During the latest episode of First We Feast's Hot Ones, the 32-year-old actor recalled meeting DiCaprio back in 2008 when they sat next to each other at a Los Angeles Lakers game.
"I was just kind of going to wait for him [to talk] and sure enough he had his hat down low and then as soon as the ball went to the other side he was like, 'Hey man, do you want to go get breakfast tomorrow?'" Efron said. "And I was like, 'Yeah, dude.'"
"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 added.
The next day, Efron traveled to DiCaprio's house for breakfast, and, though the food wasn't perfect, the conversation was.
"He cooked waffles and then he burnt those and then we made pancakes. It was awesome," Efron said. "I had a billion questions for him at that point. Definitely dealing with too much paparazzi presence in my life. And sitting next to Leo I was just like, 'Dude, how have you handled this for so long?' And he was like, 'Frankly, you're getting it a little bit different.'"
The difference of the paparazzi's interest in their lives was clear from that breakfast meeting alone, as Efron had 10 cars follow him all the way to DiCaprio's house.
"He was like, 'Yeah, there's never this many cars here... That's insane dude.' And I saw in his eyes a little bit of the feeling that I consistently was having all the time, which was just stress and anxiety," Efron said. "And he was like, 'Don't worry about it, man. You're good.'"
DiCaprio's kind words meant a lot to Efron, who had skyrocketed to stardom after starring in Disney Channel's High School Musical franchise.
"I really appreciate that he took that time. He made me feel good about it, helped me a little bit," he said. "That's the biggest hand you can extend if you're in Hollywood, looking out for somebody younger."
"So rock on, Leo," Efron added. "Thank you, buddy."
Watch the video below for more on Efron.
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