Exclusive: High School Musical's Bart Johnson Spills the Juicy Details on Zendaya and Zac Efron's Secret Romance!

Bart Johnson, Zendaya, and Zac Efron Shutterstock (3)

Bart Johnson encountered Zendaya and Tom Holland while visiting the U.K. and almost shared a bond with her over their mutual connection with Zac Efron. "I was going to inform @Zendaya that she had "kind of" dated my son. How is it that I see more movie stars in the UK than I do on the Universal studio lot?" Johnson, who portrayed Efron's onscreen father in High School Musical, tweeted on Tuesday, July 11, along with a video of Zendaya and Holland walking through London. (Efron and Zendaya had an onscreen romance in the 2017 film The Greatest Showman.)

Johnson explained his reason for not approaching the couple, stating, "In this video, you can see me enjoying my cold Chocolate and focusing on my own affairs. I wasn't the one who captured the video; they simply happened to pass by me. Frankly, such occurrences are quite common in LA... I just didn't anticipate it happening here."

Zendaya and Tom Holland are widely recognized in the entertainment industry. Zendaya, in particular, rose to prominence for her role as Coach Bolton in the popular High School Musical series, which spanned from 2006 to 2008. This Disney sensation revolved around the love story between Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron), a basketball prodigy, and Gabriella Montez (played by Vanessa Hudgens), a new student at their high school. Throughout the movies, the characters faced various challenges involving their relationships, school life, and their shared passion for musical theater.

Efron and Zendaya dedicated themselves to the project, putting in a lot of hard work, as they discussed later.

Zendaya and Zac Efron Patrick Lewis/Starpix/Shutterstock

"Zendaya was an amazing partner. We devised the dance routine for 'Rewrite The Stars' right after learning that we only had a week to shoot it, but somehow managed to film it in just one day," he revealed in an interview with BBC. "Our hard work paid off, as the footage impressed the producers enough that they granted us an extra week for additional shooting."

Efron continued, expressing his frustration with the difficulties of making a musical in today's industry. "It's a challenging process. It's a shame when you consider that movies like Deadpool, which I do enjoy, can be made with endless resources for CGI effects. In our case, we had to put in the actual physical effort of trapeze stunts and hours of ropework."

Zac Efron Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock

Efron has transitioned into film roles, while Johnson, his onscreen father, remains supportive of a High School Musical comeback. Johnson is set to appear in season 4 of the Disney+ spinoff series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which will debut on August 9th.

Prior to the start of filming for the show's final season, Efron hinted at a possible cameo during his visit to High School Musical's East High. He shared a photo on Instagram in July 2022, with the caption "Don't you... Forget about me," as he posed in front of the school in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Johnson, for his part, replied to the post, writing, “Warms coaches ole heart to see this. Welcome home, son. WHAT TEAM!? .”