Zendaya is Vogue Magazine’s July cover girl. The photos are lovely and interesting, and it’s always nice to see a young woman of color on the cover of Vogue (because it happens so infrequently). Zendaya is promoting Spider-Man: Homecoming, the third franchise attempt in the past fifteen years. I still have no idea why we need this many Spider-Man movies, but sure. I’m happy that Peter Parker’s kind-of/sort-of love interest (?) in this movie might be Zendaya. Anyway, this Vogue piece is a strange read. Writer Abby Aguirre doesn’t quote Zendaya at all in the part of the article, but instead quotes from Zendaya’s father. Zendaya’s parents are stage parents, and she supports them financially, a fact that still makes me very nervous for and about Zendaya. Anyway, you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Negotiating on her own behalf with Disney: “A lot of people don’t realize their power. I have so many friends who say yes to everything or feel like they can’t stand up for themselves in a situation. No: You have the power.”
Her reaction to Giuliana Rancic’s comments about her dreadlocks: “I went to my room, gathered my thoughts, and wrote something down, which is what two teachers would have wanted me to do.”
She was born & raised in Oakland, with Black Panthers meeting in her basement: “My aunties were Black Panthers. Afros, the whole nine.”
She recently broke up with her first boyfriend: “It was my first love. It wasn’t a good ending.” There have been no relationships since, she says, but she is moving on. “You know you’re OK in a breakup when your first thought is not, What did I do wrong?” she says. “It’s, That was the dumbest decision of your life, and you’re going to regret it forever.”
Future projects: Zendaya isn’t sure what the next step in her film metamorphosis will be. She hasn’t yet signed on to any future movies. Drawn back to her origins, she’s been thinking about how she might develop a project about another longtime Oakland resident: Angela Davis.
She’s dead right about the breakup, although the thought of “that was the dumbest decision of my life” sometimes occurs to me at the beginning, middle and end as well. Like, you have a moment of being outside your body and realizing how stupid you are. As for wanting to develop a project about Angela Davis… I wouldn’t hate that. I think she would be criticized if she really tried it, but she obviously wouldn’t give a sh-t.
Photos courtesy of Mario Testino for Vogue.
Interesting. I thought the Black Panthers disbanded by the 80s.
Good point. Zendaya was born in 1996. Was the party still active?
Yes I am scratching my head with that statement.
Maybe they are following the spirit of the Black Panthers and not THE Black Panthers. For me, I’m curious which aunts she is referring to.Her father is a first generation African immigrant and her mother is White. First generation immigrants usually just keep their heads down, get more education and work multiple jobs. They tend not to get involved in social issues. Usually but there are obviously many exceptions to the rule.
“Aunties” is a term that could just mean any older black woman, close family friends, etc. Not necessarily blood relatives..
@Elyse
Good point! My mom had me call all older family friends aunties and Uncles out of respect. Or Mr./Ms., no first names or you better run and hide for a week LOL!!!
I’ve discovered than a man I’ve been calling Uncle forever wasn’t in fact my dad’s brother when I was in high school ha ha.
She’s so beautiful.
Zendaya by all accounts seems to have a good head on her shoulders so her parents must have raised her right but I agree with your concern about stage parents. I’m always worried by the dynamic of young kids financially supporting their parents because it often doesn’t work well.
“I still have no idea why we need this many Spider-Man movies,…”
WE don’t. It’s a blatant cash grab. Sony’s desperately holding on to/lending out/over-using these rights as to not lose them outright to another studio (more pointedly, Marvel/Disney Studios).
*clapping for the Young Queen* This kid is Absolutely fully having me on Board!
She supports her parents?? What kind f parents groom their kids to be stars so they can live on their salary?? Symptom of what is wrong with a celeb oriented society.
Or is there something I am not seeing here?
I dunno what’s wrong with it, if I was earning that type of money I would make sure my parents never had to work another day in their lives . However, I doubt they would let me , but I would bloody try.
Maybe the problem is the fact that she’s so young?
But other than that, I agree. If I was making millions I’d support my parents ( and the rest of the family if I could). I doubt any of them would let me too, but I would try.
Cristiano Ronaldo, to pick an example from my background, supports his family. We all know his mum, who was horribly poor. But he was not groomed by her to be a high achieving football star so that she could not work. It just happened. And now of course he helps her out. In Madeira there is a lot of poverty and unemployment. Makes sense. Theater parents are something else.
My parents were lucky enough to do a job they like and so am I. I would never stop working because one of my kids supported me.
So two different points I am making, one slightly biased, I concede, by my own love of my work and the other one about how wealth occurred and what the role of the parents was. What if Zendaya did not want to be a child star?
Me too. If my parents were in need I would give them all the money I earn, for no matter how long. And if I won the lottery, the first thing I’d buy is fancy cars for them. I think that most parents do such a wonderful job of dedicating their everything to raising children, we cannot thank and pay them back enough.
It takes a lot of time to make a child star, it’s a full-time job in itself. A lot of times the whole family will move to Hollywood or NY or wherever to give the child a better chance of becoming a star. They only income at this point will be from the child. I’m not in agreement with this, it’s just the way it is.
We all know how hard it is to get back into the workforce if you’ve taken a few years off for whatever reason, if the child is making a lot of money at this point it makes sense for them to support the family.
It seems Zendaya has a good head on her shoulders, one would hope she has everything in order.
Sometimes it makes me worried but her parents were teachers. Teachers make no money and if I was a kid I would pay of any loans my parents have and put the rest away. Plus her parents seem largely behind the scenes unlike certain momagers.
Anyways we didn’t NEED another Spiderman but Tom Holland is adorable and witty so I’ll actually see this franchise. Plus I love his friendship with Zendaya (did yall SEE them dragging each other on twitter?). Didn’t see either of the AG ones until they were on tv and hated both.
And how cool is it that BOTH of Spiderman’s love interests are black? The other main female in the story is another WOC. I’m here for it.
Agreed. I would definitely help my family out and have some money put away.
Sometimes, it’s not about the parents NEEDING financial support. It can be the best case for everyone, if done properly.
Say a kid gets into the business and starts booking jobs. They’ll need management. Do you:
A.) Hire some stranger, give them 10%, trust they’ll always have your kid’s best interests in mind, fight for them, and protect them?
or
B.) Do it all yourself as their parent (since you have to be there anyway as their guardian) and keep the 10%.
Greed and drama have turned MANY parent/child-star relationship south, but I fully understand why momagers started.
A) with a very tough supervision.
I am having to possibly consider these things myself for my kids on a much lower level of course. Some parents are crazy but I am talking also about balanced human beings. You have to make sure your kid is heard and protected but then you need a good professional to have things in hand.
On paper B) seems lovely but that’s if parents were robots or management professionals. I
Edit: there is a huge level of anxiety that you can pass on to your kid when you see him or her on stage or on a sports arena. Even if you are balanced and stable. That’s what I mean by “unless you’re a robot”.
I, for one, welcome our new Spider-Man overlords.
The last Spider-Man movie I enjoyed was the second Tobey Maguire one. The others since then were either meh or atrocious, so I’m on board for a new take, especially since they’re skipping the origin story. Plus Tom Holland and Zendaya are adorable and look the actual ages of the characters.
Zendaya is one of the very few child entertainers who actually seems to have a head on her shoulders. I fully support her It Girl status – she could make a trash bag look like Valentino.