Zendaya opened up about her ‘complicated feelings’ about growing up in the public eye since getting cast as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up.
The Oakland native, who has since become a two-time Emmy winner at just 27, reflected on her struggles with anxiety after being put in a ‘very adult position’ as her family’s breadwinner before becoming a legal adult.
When asked what her career goals were growing up during an interview with Vogue, the Euphoria star admitted that she finds the question a bit ‘funny’ as ‘it’s something that’ she’s still trying to figure out now.
‘I don’t know how much of a choice I had. I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor,’ she explained. ‘We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental.’
Zendaya opened up about ‘complicated feelings’ about growing up in the public eye since launching to stardom as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up in 2010 (seen in April 2024)
As an adult, she said she has found herself thinking: ‘Oh, okay, wait a minute: I’ve only ever done what I’ve known, and this [acting] is all I’ve known.’
‘I’m almost going through my angsty teenager phase now, because I didn’t really have the time to do it before,’ she mused.
While looking back at her adolescence, Zendaya said: ‘I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early.’
‘There was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becoming grown, really,’ she noted.
Additionally, she felt a lot of pressure to become ‘this perfect being, and be everything that everyone needs’ her to be and live up to.
The pressure and expectations, still, make it difficult for her to live in the moment or, even, enjoy her current success.
‘Now, when I have these moments in my career—like, my first time leading a film that’s actually going to be in a theater—I feel like I shrink, and I can’t enjoy all the things that are happening to me, because I’m like this,’ she said while balling up her fists. ‘I’m very tense.’
She went on to say that she believes her tension is caused from ‘never really having an opportunity to just try s**t’ as a kid without the fear of failure.
The Oakland native, who has since become a two-time Emmy winner at the young age of 27, reflected on her struggles with anxiety after being put in a ‘very adult position’ as a child star (seen in 2011)
Zendaya’s parents Kazembe Ajamu Coleman and Claire Stoermer, who separated in 2016, both worked as school teachers (pictured in 2013 with her mom and dad)
The actress also admitted that she still really wishes she ‘went to school’ and that going to school on a television set ‘only barely’ worked.
Zendaya’s parents Kazembe Ajamu Coleman and Claire Stoermer, who separated in 2016, were both school teachers.
She has five older stepsiblings from her father’s previous marriage, including sisters Katianna, Annabella and Kaylee as well as brothers Austin and Julien.
In 2017, she revealed to Glamour that her father ‘quit his job as a teacher’ to make her dream of becoming an actress come true.
In 2017, she revealed to Glamour that her father ‘quit his job as a teacher’ to make her dream of becoming an actress come true; seen in 2016
As she went on auditions with her father, her mother stayed in Oakland and worked two jobs as a teacher and employee at the California Shakespeare Theater; pictured in 2013
As she went on auditions with her father, her mother stayed in Oakland and worked two jobs as a teacher and employee at the California Shakespeare Theater to support their family.
‘Those two jobs paid for all of our car trips back and forth for the year I was auditioning,’ she said.
Over the years, Zendaya has spoken highly about her mother’s career and referred to her as her role model.
Before kicking off her career on Disney Channel’s sitcom, Shake It Off, which ran from 2010 to 2013, was a backup dancer for Selena Gomez in a Sears commercial and a Kidz Bop kid; pictured in 2012
The Golden Globe winner has since starred in HBO’s hit series Euphoria as well as box office hits, like the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Greatest Showman and the Dune film franchise (seen earlier this week)
‘Growing up, I watched my mom teach in the heart of Oakland, California, at inner-city schools that were always underfunded. My mom went above and beyond, working constantly to open her students’ eyes to an education that could lift them far beyond their current circumstances,’ the performer told Teen Vogue in 2016.
She continued: ‘She would introduce them to the arts, guide them through the language of Shakespeare, and show them the wonders of nature outside city life — all things that they wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.’
Before kicking off her career on Disney Channel’s sitcom, Shake It Off, which ran from 2010 to 2013, was a backup dancer for Selena Gomez in a Sears commercial and a Kidz Bop kid.
The Golden Globe winner has since starred in HBO’s hit series Euphoria as well as box office hits, like the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Greatest Showman and the Dune film franchise.
