The “Euphoria” star recalled first meeting Holland during a chemistry read for the 2017 Marvel movie, “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Zendaya has fielded countless questions amid her ongoing promotional tour for her newest movie, “The Drama,” not least of all about rumors she secretly married her fiancé Tom Holland, and while she didn’t confirm this during her latest interview, Zendaya did reveal how she fell for him.
The “Euphoria” star vividly detailed the moment during an episode published Wednesday on The New York Times podcast “Modern Love.” Her “Drama” co-star Robert Pattinson had just finished arguing there’s often fear involved during breakups or an initial attraction.
“I think sometimes, at least in my personal experience, I found that, you know sometimes people can get kind of nervous around people? But there’s a certain feeling that I was able to experience when I knew that this is my person, because I didn’t,” said Zendaya. “I don’t feel nervous around them, I feel really peaceful and I feel really calm, and I feel like, ‘Oh, I actually feel more nervous when I’m away from you than when I’m with you,’ and that’s when I was like, ‘Ah, that’s a good sign, that’s me listening to my intuition or body.’”
Zendaya and Holland were dating off and on for nearly a decade before getting engaged in late 2024. They first met during a chemistry read for “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in 2017, which aptly went on to star Zendaya as the romantic interest of Holland’s titular Marvel hero.
She said during the podcast that Holland made her “feel calm” during the audition.
When asked how, Zendaya said, “Just by being a nice person, you know? By making me feel comfortable. I mean it’s like, having to do a chemistry read for a big movie like that is— you really want the job and all these kinds of things. And yeah, he was really lovely then.”
Whether she and Holland have already tied the knot, as her longtime stylist and friend Law Roach claimed earlier this month, remains unconfirmed. Zendaya did note on the podcast, however, she does try to share her life with fans — but also keeps some things to herself.
“I just feel like for me, there is this level of a parasocial investment in my personal relationship,” she said. “I do know that I’m a public person, and so is he, and I’m also aware that we’ve grown up in front of people, and we’ve done movies where we fall in love with each other.”
“So I really do understand that, and I don’t want to dismiss that like, ‘Stay out of my business’ or whatever,” Zendaya continued. “But in a lot of ways I also am a very private person — and I try my best to be able to have things for myself and for him as well.”
