Zendaya Praises Boyfriend Tom Holland for Handling Fame at a Young Age “Beautifully”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 9 April 2024

Just on the heels of her press run for Dune: Part Two, Zendaya is on another press run for her forthcoming film Challengers—including already a slew of jaw-dropping looks (tennis inspired, of course, as the film centers around the sport) and a cover story for Vogue.

Zendaya on the cover of Vogue — Zendaya on the cover of "Vogue"

Inside that piece, typically private Zendaya opened up about her boyfriend, Tom Holland—also an actor—and praised him for how he handled the monstrosity that is fame, especially at a tender age: “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.” (Zendaya and Holland starred together in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home, and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Holland played the superhero.)

She added of Holland, “I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him. But he handled it really beautifully.”

Zendaya also said she plans to support Holland when he returns to London’s West End in a new production of Romeo & Juliet next month. “[I] could not be more proud,” she said. “I’m going to try to see as many shows as I possibly can.”

After meeting on the set of their first of three Spider-Man movies, it’s unclear when their relationship turned from merely co-stars to romantic—but publicly, they were confirmed to be a couple in July 2021.

Navigating their romance as the world watches has proven challenging for the couple, both of whom are protective of their personal lives. In her Vogue interview, Zendaya reflected on a trip they took to the Louvre in Paris, where they were advised that their fame might make crowds even worse at the famous museum. (Photos of the two holding hands went viral afterwards.) Zendaya and Holland decided to go anyway, not letting their celebrity interfere with their desire to live life together.

“It was actually fine,” she said. “You just kind of get used to the fact that, ‘Oh, I’m also one of those art pieces you’re going to take a picture of.’ I just gotta be totally cool with it and just live my life.”

Staffers let the couple stay after closing time, and “It was one of the coolest experiences ever,” Zendaya said. “It was like Night at the Museum.”

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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