Through a heartbreaking letter written to Zac Efron, Rhys McNaughton's friends hope to find small bits of positivity after their friend committed suicide.
Rhys' resemblance to Zac was undeniable.
They had similar jawlines and body types, and honestly, you wouldn't be able to tell their eyes apart in a police lineup.
These aesthetic parallels led Rhys' friends to jokingly nickname the incredibly popular former athlete “Zeffa.”
On October 24, Rhys' friends and family were shocked to find out the New South Wales Central Coast native committed suicide at the too-young age of 24.
Since his death, Rhys' friends started a campaign through the Movember Foundation to raise $10,000 for men's mental health issues.
To date, Rhys' friends more than doubled that amount, raising more than $24,000.
His friends aren't done trying to raise funds, though, and they're hoping a letter addressed to Zac Efron will help them enlist Rhys' doppelgänger in the cause.
One of those friends, James Healey, wrote,
I wouldn't often do this and I don't even know how responsive celebrity pages are but I am going through a tough time at the moment and want to share a story with you about my friend Rhys… affectionately known as Zeffa.
He continued,
Rhys was a loving and caring guy, but had passion for life that you rarely see. He was a candle that burnt so brightly everyone followed blindly; we were all immediately wrapped up in this rollercoaster.
He eventually made the plea for Efron's help, saying,
Zac, I am reaching out to you because just last week Rhys took his own life. An absolute shock to everyone around him, and the greater community the loss of our Zeffa was massive and devastation. I still cannot comprehend that a true gentleman like Rhys who had everything you would ever want could feel so saf inside and not be able to tell us.
Let's hope Rhys' friends continue to succeed in their amazing undertaking! Someone get this to Efron's people!
Citations: Grieving friends of Zac Efron 'doppelganger' who took his own life write a heartbreaking letter to the Hollywood star to raise awareness of male suicide (Daily Mail)
