Sabrina Carpenter Says She Went Through a ‘Dangerous Zac Efron Phase,’ Recalls Their Fan Encounter

Sabrina Carpenter is just like Us — even she fangirls over her childhood crushes.

“Oh, God — I had a really dangerous Zac Efron phase, when he was in Hairspray,” Carpenter, 25, revealed in an interview with W magazine published on Thursday, September 5. Not only was she crushing hard over the High School Musical star, now 36, but she got the chance to meet him as a kid.

“I was 12 years old, and I was on a beach for the 4th of July,” Carpenter recalled. “He would never remember this, but I saw him and said, ‘I’m a big fan of your work!’ He gave me a hug. And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God — he wasn’t wearing a shirt and he gave me a hug! I was like, ‘This is amazing. I’m never washing my body!’”

Just like Efron, Carpenter got her big break on the Disney Channel after appearing in a handful of small TV and movie roles.

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“I did my first audition when I was around 11 years old. The second or third audition was for the first job that I booked — Law & Order: SVU,” she recalled. “I was thrown off by that booking because I always wanted to do comedy. … And then I booked Orange Is the New Black. Can I swear? That episode was called ‘F–ksgiving.’” Carpenter laughed. Her next gigs were all wholesome. “I went from raunchy to Disney!”

Carpenter famously starred on the Boy Meets World revival, Girl Meets World, from 2014 to 2017, while Efron became a teen heartthrob for his role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy. 2007’s Hairspray was one of many musical films Efron has appeared in over the years, including 2017’s The Greatest Showman.

Efron even starred alongside one of Carpenter’s real-life BFFs, Joey King, in the recent Netflix movie A Family Affair, which hit the streamer on June 28.

While Carpenter has continued to act in projects such as Emergency and Tall Girl over the years, she has primarily put her focus into her music career. “When I was 16, I put out my first project,” she shared. “Ever since, music has been my whole life.”

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Carpenter released her debut album, Eyes Wide Open, in 2015 and recently released her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, last month. The record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart thanks to the success of her summer hits “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” the latter of which she wrote in France during a break from Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.

“I was in a ghost town that had one little creperie down the road,” she said of creating the earworm. “I had my shot of espresso, and then I might have had some champagne, and before I knew it the song was written. I definitely hear it now in every car I get into, and being on the radio, to me, is still — it’s like fate. You have to be at the right place at the right time.”

Carpenter costarred in the music video for “Please Please Please” with her boyfriend, actor Barry Keoghan. He supported her latest album release via his Instagram Story last month and revealed his favorite song from the record, writing, “BAD CHEM my fave just saying m’darlin.”