Zac Efron has admitted that he regrets ever being a part of the High School Musical franchise.

The star of Neighbors 2 admitted that he occasionally regrets taking on the role of Troy Bolton. He has no desire to be regarded as “just that f**king kid” from HSM.

“I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s ass sometimes,” he previously told Men’s Fitness. “Like, f**k that guy. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people, he did that one thing [Neighbours] that was funny, but I mean he’s still just that f**king kid from High School Musical.”

This isn’t the first time the actor has expressed regret for his involvement.

In March, Efron admitted that the fame he gained as a consequence of High School Musical was “not a real thing.” “I try not to look at all of it,” he explained. “You can’t enjoy or celebrate it, it’s not a real thing. The face on the lunchbox and s**t – you can’t share that with your friends.”

The actor is well aware that High School Musical catapulted him to international fame, but he simply wishes to move on from that chapter of his life. We understand if he doesn’t want High School Musical to define his career and personality.

Because of his background, even his Neighbors 2 co-star Seth Rogen felt Zac would not be the nicest person. Seth told the magazine, “For sure, I assumed he’d be a guy I wouldn’t like very much. But he was very self-effacing and self-deprecating, and I remember really liking him. He won me over.”

Zac was noticeably missing when the HSM cast reassembled in January 2016 to commemorate the film’s tenth anniversary.

Despite having “nothing but love for the High School Musical cast and fans,” he tweeted on his own Twitter profile that he couldn’t make it. He claimed that he couldn’t go because of work commitments for Dirty Grandpa, but many stories speculated that the actual reason was to avoid his ex-girlfriend, former co-star Vannesa Hudgens.

He couldn’t recall the words to “Breaking Free,” the famous song Troy and Gabriella sung in the first film, while promoting We Are Your Friends in 2014!