Zac Efron’s eco-conscious life in Australia after stepping back from Hollywood

Zac Efron has stepped back from the Hollywood spotlight and built a very different life in Australia. The actor turns 39 on Sunday, October 18.

Efron still makes movies, but has moved his personal life far from Hollywood. He first moved to Byron Bay in early 2020, during the pandemic. He later bought a 128-hectare property and sold his Los Angeles home.

He is now working with Dutch-Australian designer Joost Bakker on an eco-conscious home he calls “FutureCave.” 

According to the Australian Financial Review, it sits in a small area called Tomewin, near the New South Wales and Queensland border, about an hour’s drive from Byron Bay.

Efron told the paper last December why he picked Bakker. “Every time I go to Joost’s I have a sense of ‘this is actually what I want in life,’” he said. He added that Russell Crowe told him buying land in Australia was a good idea, and that Crowe is very proud of doing it himself.

Efron has spoken openly before about struggling with anxiety and burnout during his career. In his 2020 Netflix series Down to Earth with Zac Efron, he said Hollywood is “not a place conducive to living a long, happy, mentally sound life.”