As the Challengers press tour continues, Zendaya gave an in-depth interview to Vogue and British Vogue. The actress touched on her boyfriend, Tom Holland, briefly in the piece, along with her thoughts on fame and whether she’ll be in the spotlight long term.
Zendaya told the outlets that she does want to have children one day but not anytime soon. Giving an example of how she doesn’t want to rush into things, she recalled a conversation with a fashion house where someone referred to an archival look as 30 years old. “I was like, Wait, girl, this is from ’96. Ain’t no 30 years old just yet, okay? This is 27 years old. Wait a minute.” (Zendaya was born on Sept. 1, 1996.)
She also acknowledged the many people who still see her as a teenager. “I’m always in a high school somewhere,” she said. “And, mind you, I never went to high school.” Breaking away from that with her Challengers role, where she plays a woman up to her early 30s, “was refreshing. And it was also kind of scary, because I was like, I hope people buy me as my own age, or maybe a little bit older, because I have friends that have kids, or are having kids.”
Zendaya touched on fame and the attention she started getting when she was a Disney Channel star as a kid. Rejecting any part of it didn’t seem like an option at first, she explained: “I think growing up, I always felt like when someone asks for a picture, I have to do it, all the time. You have to say yes, because you need to be grateful that you’re here. And while I still feel that way, I also have learned that I can say no, and I can say kindly that I’m having a day off, or I’m just trying to be to myself today, and I don’t actually have to perform all the time.”
“Because I don’t necessarily want my kids to have to deal with this,” she continued. “And what does my future look like? Am I going to be a public-facing person forever? [My dream scenario is being able to] make things and pop out when I need to pop out, and then have a safe and protected life with my family, and not be worried that if I’m not delivering something all the time, or not giving all the time, that everything’s going to go away. I think that’s always been a massive anxiety of mine: this idea that people will just be like, Actually, I know I’ve been with you since you were 14, but I’m over you now because you’re boring.”
Zendaya also discussed her boyfriend’s own sudden rise to fame after the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. “We were both very, very young, but my career was already kind of going, and his changed overnight,” she said. “One day you’re a kid and you’re at the pub with your friends, and then the next day you’re Spider-Man. I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him. But he handled it really beautifully.”
She addressed Holland’s new gig in a London production of Romeo & Juliet. “[I] could not be more proud. I’m going to try to see as many shows as I possibly can,” she said.
She also shared one date experience they had in Paris where their fame helped and hurt them at the same time. They had wanted to go to the Louvre in October 2022. They received the feedback of “it’s already busy. You might make it worse,” but went anyway.
“It was actually fine,” Zendaya said, even with the fan attention they got. “You just kind of get used to the fact that, Oh, I’m also one of these art pieces you’re going to take a picture of. I just gotta be totally cool with it and just live my life.” The Louvre let them stay after closing time, too. “It was one of the coolest experiences ever. It was like Night at the Museum.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
