Zac Efron was rushed to hospital last week after suffering a swimming pool incident at a villa in Ibiza. Zac – who has been travelling around Europe over the past month – was reportedly “found inside the swimming pool by two people working at the villa who pulled him out of the water”.

It’s believed he dived so deep that he ingested water into his lungs after his chest hit the bottom of the pool, leaving him “momentarily dazed”. A spokesperson for the 36-year-old said he was hospitalised as “a precautionary measure” for the “minor” incident and is “recovering just fine”. When asked why he needed to be hospitalised if the issue was minor, they stated again that it was just a precaution.

After being discharged the following day, Zac took to Instagram Stories to post a picture of him working out and wrote alongside, “Happy and healthy – thanks for the well wishes.” But despite reassuring fans, pals close to the actor are said to be worried about his health after being so tight-lipped about what happened.

“Zac’s intensely private and clearly doesn’t feel the need to share exact details, but that’s just gotten everyone hyper concerned and wondering why there’s this wall of silence over exactly what happened that night in Ibiza,” an insider says. “He’s insisting that there’s nothing for people to worry about, that this was all blown way out of proportion. Giving out specific details will only feed into this ridiculous narrative that he was in some sort of crisis. He’s telling everyone that reaches out that it was no big deal and just a case of things getting exaggerated.”

They continue, “He’s pretty annoyed that this has even leaked out and doesn’t appreciate that his privacy has been violated this way. He understands that people are going to have concerns when they hear this sort of story, but he’s shutting it all down and saying everyone needs to chill out. That’s why he shared a photo of himself working out. Posting that to his Instagram Story was his way of answering back to all the people questioning his health condition. He doesn’t usually share very much behind the scenes of his life on social media, he’s a very private guy. But he basically felt pushed to answer back because he’s well aware that the rumour mill is buzzing and he wanted to shut down all the talk about him being unwell. As far as changing anything in his day to day, he’s carrying on as normal.”

After finishing filming hit movie The Iron Claw, Zac has been enjoying a long summer break. Two weeks ago, he spent an afternoon on a yacht with pals in Ibiza and shortly before the swimming pool incident, he joined Dutch DJ, Martin Garrix, on stage during one of his shows on the Spanish island. The star also been spotted in St Tropez, Mykonos and Paris, where he attended the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Our source explains, “He’s been enjoying a nice break in Europe this summer with a bunch of his closest friends before he has to start shooting his next movie and he has no plans to cut it short. He’s grateful that so many people are worried about him but it’s frustrating that he’s being painted in some circles as this huge party king when that’s just not the case. He works hard and, in his downtime, he loves to see the world with his friends. Traveling and experiencing different cultures is what brings him the most joy. He loves surfing, he loves trying new foods, hiking in different countries and being active.

“And yes, there are times that he enjoys hitting the clubs for some nightlife and dancing, but people shouldn’t get the wrong impression, he’s very much in control and taking care of his body and health, his days of being this wild child are long over. Obviously, it’s not a great look to have this sort of incident happening, but he’s very clear that he’s cool and just wants people to stop talking about it and asking about it because he’s fine.”

It’s not the first time Zac has been involved in a worrying accident. In 2013, he shattered his jaw after he slipped on a pair of socks while running at his home, causing him to smash his chin into a granite fountain and lose consciousness. He revealed that he woke up with “his chin bone hanging off his face”.

Zac explained that the masseter muscles on the inside of his jaw “compensated” for his injury and they grew in size, which is why he looked so different at the time. “The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big,” he explained in 2022, adding that he needed to work with a physical therapist.

And hitting back at plastic surgery rumours due to his shock look, he previously said, “My mom told me. I never really read the internet, so, I don’t really care. It was funny. It sucks. I almost died, but we’re good.”

Zac also revealed that the injury to his face came within a span of about a year-and-a-half in which he also “tore his ACL, dislocated his shoulder, broke his wrist, and threw out his back”.

Now, he’s been warned by those close to him to slow down. “Zac has been living this nomadic, traveller-style existence for years now and a lot of folks believe he needs to settle down and sit still, not least because he’s accident prone and always pushing himself to extremes physically. At 36 he’s no spring chicken anymore, but the guy’s still working out like an Olympic athlete and tearing around with the young kids with the same vigour he had over a decade ago,” the source says.

“Sure, he’s an incredible human specimen but the guy feeds off adrenaline and he still parties pretty hard, too. Right now, the priority is for Zac to get the medical all clear, rest up, then hopefully he’ll sit back and treat this as a wakeup call whilst putting everyone’s fears to rest. In the meantime, everyone’s praying for him.”