Zendaya discussed the pressures of fame and not knowing if she “can handle all of that,” during a screening event held in New York City for Dune: Part Two, saying she would like to be seen as a “person”.
While the question initially left panelists filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Austin Butler occupied with thoughts, Chalamet opted to respond first, saying, “If I start answering, you guys need to answer too.” True to the spirit of her character Chani, Zendaya assured, “I’ll have your back, I gotcha.
Zendaya spoke about her experience dealing with the all-encompassing nature of being a celeb.
She further continued, “I was a shy kid, always have been, and so this part isn’t natural — that is a huge reason why fashion became important to me because it became like armor to pretend to go out and do the job.”
“So I don’t know if I, either, can fully relate, but I understand what you’re saying, and I think that’s what’s terrifying to me,” she concluded. “I would like to be a person and for people to see me as that first. I don’t necessarily know if I want or can handle all of that or want [that] — some people that’s part of it, they enjoy the power that comes from it, and I don’t know if that’s for me.”
This isn’t the first time Zendaya has been vocal about her discomfort with fame, and the “complicated feelings” she has toward child acting and stardom earlier this year. Her comments also come at a time of heightened discussion online about how audiences treat famous people, particularly women celebrities, as singer-songwriter Chappell Roan has recently made headlines for speaking out against the “abusive” nature of fame.
