But few people are as famous, as ambitious, as the great Marvel movie, like Zendaya, who mainly chooses to keep the hard work of growing up private. Years ago, as a Disney Channel star, it looked like she intended to build her own mini empire, making each extension of her brand consumable. Today its goals are narrower, with a focus on longevity. At the top of the list is finding out who she is when she’s not in someone else’s head. “I played this card game recently, We are not really strangers, or whatever you call it,” she says. “One of the questions was ‘What is the random compliment that strangers give you that makes you feel good?’
“For me, it is when people say that their children watched me. They just say, ‘We are very proud of you, girl. We are proud of you. Keep doing what you’re doing. I see you.’ I’m like “- and here, Zendaya evokes a genuine and happy cry -” ‘Aw, thanks! ‘
“I feel like everyone at that moment becomes my aunt, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I want to make you proud.’ Do you know? But these things really mean a lot to me. I think … that to want to control everything is just not to want to screw it up. I don’t want to disappoint anyone. “
We were both silent for a second or two, sitting with the observation. Even a million supportive aunts have high expectations. Knowing what you want from yourself is one thing. To know how you are – when your life is an endless leap from one film set to another – it is something entirely different, especially when you are only 24 and going over what you can accomplish in Hollywood.
This is too much, I finally answer. I need to exhale.
“Hello!” she says with a laugh. “AND That is because we talk to therapists. This is important.”
Therapy is for another day, however. Tomorrow, Zendaya has to get back to work.
Hunter Harris is a writer who lives in New York City.
A version of this story originally appears in the February 2021 issue with the title “Zollywood”.
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photos by Tyrell Hampton
Stylized by Law Roach
Hair by Ursula Stephen for A-Frame Agency
Makeup by Sheika Daley for SixK.LA
Adapting by Jeff Gillies
Special thanks to Columbia Pictures