InstagramMarcia Gay Harden's got her Parkland costar Zac Efron's back.
When we caught up with the Newsroom actress at HBO's 2013 Emmys party last night, she praised Efron for checking himself into rehab.
"In my opinion, Zac Efron is a total hero," Harden said. "Him seeking help encourages other people with addictive issues to seek help. It's brave of him."
"I think only a coward lives in denial, and he is not a coward," she said. "He's a hardworking go-getter and I love him."
As we first told you, Efron went to rehab about five months ago. "He's healthy, happy and not drinking," one source told E! News earlier this month. "He's taking time to focus on working."
Efron's friend Rob Lowe tweeted at the time, "A thought: if you only find out a person has been to rehab weeks or months after they got out, they're probably serious about recovery."
At the Parkland premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6, Efron told us that he was "good, real good."
In Parkland, Efron and Harden play the first doctor and nurse to treat President John F. Kennedy at Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital after he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald.
"The three days are really shrouded in so much mystery and controversy with conspiracy theories," Efron said at TIFF. "Growing up, I didn't know what was fact or fiction. But the simple truths of what transpired, that we know for a fact, are all in this movie."
The film opens on Oct. 4.