Tragic Details About Zendaya
Zendaya's journey into acting didn't start on the most glamorous note. Speaking to W in 2016, the Disney alum recalled that she gave her first audition for the lead role in her school's rendition of "James and The Giant Peach." Although Zendaya only managed to bag the part of Silkworm, she boasted that she gave the performance of a lifetime. She reportedly entered into showbiz by working as a backup dancer for Selena Gomez's Sears commercial. Then, Zendaya had a stunning transformation and got her big break when she was 14 through Disney's "Shake It Up."
In 2013, the teen actor made her way into the music industry by releasing a self-titled debut album. Although the "Replay" singer continued to make music here and there, we never saw a full-length EP from her again. When Zendaya spoke to Deadline in 2019, she hinted that the business side of music may have turned away from pursuing it as a career. "I think the [music] industry takes a little bit of passion away from you," she shared. "It sucks you dry a little bit. What I thought I wanted, it's not what I want anymore, [especially] when I think about what I had to deal with in the music industry."
She also urged newcomers to give their contracts a thorough read to ensure they're not signing away their self-worth. Despite her bad experiences, Zendaya making her mark in the world with her stellar acting, fashion choices, and outspokenness. However, it wasn't an easy feat because critics kept coming at her left, right, and center.
Zendaya had to defend her Oscars hairstyle
When Zendaya attended the 2015 Oscars, she stunned in an elegant off-the-shoulder white dress, and her dreadlocks only added to its beauty. However, when the look came up in "Fashion Police," Giuliana Rancic had some pretty offensive things to say about her hair. After the host noted that the hairdo felt too overpowering for Zendaya, she shared that she believed her hair smelled "like patchouli oil...or weed" (via YouTube).
Zendaya defended herself against the nasty remark through an Instagram post. The "Challengers" star called the remark "a large stereotype" and "outrageously offensive." She noted that her nearest and dearest and several famous African Americans wore their hair in a similar fashion and defied the offensive stereotype she was describing. "There is already a harsh criticism of African-American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair," she penned.
Zendaya took great pride in her hair as she asserted, "To me, locs are a symbol of strength and beauty, almost like a lion's mane." Rancic went on to apologize for her statements. Later, in 2015, Mattel introduced a Zendaya Barbie dressed in her Oscars outfit, complete with the dreadlocks. When the "Euphoria" star thought back to her response in 2021 in her W Magazine interview, she felt happy in knowing it had brought some positive change. It also inspired her to think, "How could I always have a lasting impact on what people saw and associated with people of color?"
She was body-shamed as a teenager
Zendaya couldn't seem to catch a break from the critics as she got body-shamed by comedian Julie Klausner for her Kids' Choice Awards appearance in 2016. "Zendaya's ultimate retort to Giuliana Rancic is starving herself down to the size of one of her [elbows]," Klausner wrote in a since-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter (via The Hollywood Reporter). In another tweet, she assumed that the 19-year-old had an "eating disorder."
Zendaya clapped back through a tweet that warned Klausner she wouldn't hesitate to write her an informative message similar to the one she penned for Giuliana Rancic. In a separate tweet, she also encouraged women of all sizes to love themselves. Klausner doubled down on her comments by tweeting that she couldn't sit idly by while women like Zendaya supposedly made an impressionable audience believe their bodies weren't good enough. Based on the "Dune" star's comments about body positivity, it doesn't seem like she would ever want young women to believe they had to look a certain way to fit a societal standard.
When the actor spoke to Popsugar in 2016, she shared that her peers had commented on her thin frame throughout her life, but she hadn't let those remarks see herself as any lesser. In Zendaya's 2015 Nylon interview, she stressed that self-love was an ever-evolving concept, asserting, "You shouldn't feel discouraged if you're not waking up and feeling amazing about yourself." She urged readers to find new things to appreciate about themselves to develop a more all-encompassing sense of self-love.
Childhood fame forced her to grow up too soon
Speaking to Vogue, Zendaya admitted that childhood stardom had left her with some complicated thoughts. The "Spider-Man: Homecoming" star shared that when she walked away from Disney, she felt uncertain about her future career path because she had only been a child star for most of her life. "I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening and just kind of becoming grown, really," she detailed.
Zendaya shared that she couldn't truly be a child and felt like she had to be "this perfect being, and be everything that everyone needs me to be, and live up to all these expectations." She added that she still carried the tremendous burden of keeping that persona up in her adulthood, and it prevented her from being able to cherish aspects of her flourishing career. When Zendaya sat down with "Pay Or Wait," she shared that she had learned to stand up for herself fairly young because execs were dismissive about her boundaries.
The Disney alum thanked her on-set teacher for strictly enforcing boundaries that allowed her to gain some sense of normalcy. When Zendaya thought back to those times, she questioned if being a child star was her choice or a career path that had been imposed on her. Ultimately, the actor wished she had been able to live a normal childhood.
She struggled with privacy after she shot to stardom
When Zendaya spoke to Elle in 2023, she shared that "Euphoria" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" fame gravely affected her personal life. The star shared that before the major releases, she could get around loads of places without prying eyes. Afterward, Zendaya had to stay at home and pass on hanging out with her friends because she feared the attention she would get at an outing would take away the joy of the night for her loved ones.
The "Malcolm & Marie" actor shared that people had invaded her privacy by snapping pictures of her while she was running errands, and others had even gone so far as to capture the moment she was cleaning up after her dog on the street. Zendaya's relationship with Tom Holland has also greatly increased the public's attention on both of them. When the interview brought up pap photos of them on vacation, Zendaya asserted, "I can't not be a person and live my life and love the person I love. But also, I do have control over what I choose to share," she continued.
"It's about protecting the peace and letting things be your own but also not being afraid to exist." To make matters worse, we learned of their relationship through Page Six's photos of them kissing in a car. Zendaya shared her feelings about the images in a GQ interview, noting, "It was quite strange and weird and confusing and invasive." Given all this, it's no wonder that Zendaya and Holland keep their relationship so private.
She faced racism after being cast as Mary-Jane
In 2016, Zendaya posted a Snapchat story detailing the racism she and her friend had faced at the hands of a grocery store employee. "The Greatest Showman" actor claimed that the clerk didn't want to sell her $400 gift cards because of her "skin tone," per CNN. Zendaya claimed that the clerk didn't seem interested in helping them out from the get-go. When the employee did address them, she rudely shoved Zendaya's wallet back at her.
The former child actor strongly felt that the employee didn't think she had enough money to make the purchase. The company that owns the grocery store shared a statement with CNN explaining that Zendaya couldn't buy the $400 gift cards because of company limits and apologized for the employee's actions. The movie star also faced racism on a public level when news of her being cast as Mary-Jane leaked.
Some people were unhappy that the role was being played by an African-American actor and wrote several angry and racist posts on social media. Zendaya addressed the backlash when she spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 with a message for all the haters, "I don't know what America you live in, but from what I see when I walk outside my streets of New York right now, I see lots of diversity and I see the real world and it's beautiful, and that's what should be reflected and that's what is reflected so you're just going to have to get over it."