Zac Efron Explains What Led to 'Jaw-Gate' and the Suggestion He Had Plastic Surgery

Brendon Thorne/Getty

Zac Efron is explaining the truth behind "Jaw-gate."

The Greatest Beer Run Ever actor, 34, was asked during an interview with Men's Health about speculation that he had plastic surgery on his jaw. The rumors surfaced last April, with many alleging he looked different in an Earth Day PSA.

Acknowledging his appearance changed in recent years, Efron explained his looks changed after he fell over at his home and broke his jaw in November 2013 making his face and jaw muscles have to work extra hard.

While a person's masseter muscles along with muscles on their face should operate "like a symphony" his injury meant this was no longer the case, he said.

He was seeing a physical therapist to help him recover but he briefly stopped while in Australia, where he taped season 2 of his Netflix series Down to Earth in Australia last year.

Zac Efron/Instagram

RELATED: 'Firestarter' 's Ryan Kiera Armstrong Got to Know Onscreen Dad Zac Efron Over a Game of Ping-Pong

"The masseters just grew," Efron recalled. "They just got really, really big."

It was the star's mom who told him about the attention his appearance was receiving online and about the speculation he had plastic surgery or undergone some cosmetic procedures –– which the publication dubbed "jaw-gate."

Efron noted that he typically tries to stay off of social media, adding, "If I valued what other people thought of me to the extent that they may think I do. I definitely wouldn't be able to do this work."

During the interview, Efron also opened up about his body image as a whole, discussing how the chiseled physique fans saw in 2017's Baywatch isn't "attainable."

RELATED: Zac Efron Says He Was Recognized by a Tribe in Papua New Guinea Because of 'High School Musical'

"That Baywatch look, I don't know if that's really attainable. There's just too little water in the skin," Efron said "Like, it's fake; it looks CGI'd. And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don't need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent body fat."

Aside from diuretics, Efron said he was overtraining, eating the same three meals each day and not sleeping enough to keep up with the high level of energy he exerted to keep in shape for the film, according to Men's Health.

RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Zac Efron Accidentally Go to War in The Greatest Beer Run Ever Trailer

While Efron told the outlet he was initially excited to star in Baywatch, he said he wants to raise awareness about the long-term negative effects that level of training took on him.

"I started to develop insomnia and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out," Efron told Men's Health. "I had a really hard time recentering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Efron began to reconsider his approach to fitness in Australia during the onset of the pandemic, first experimenting with taking a lengthy break from training altogether before re-emerging as "a foam-rolling fanatic" who touts stretching, yoga, massage guns and ice baths as central to his fitness, according to Men's Health.