Cliff Notes (in case y’all don’t have an hour to spare lol - But I HIGHLY recommend watching/listening! 😊 )
PS - I LOVE Issa as an interviewer! She really knows the right questions to ask.
**Cliffs:
Z says that confidence is a learned thing. Encourages people to just be easy on themselves and don’t be too hard on yourself. Says it’s a lifelong thing that you can continue to grow and navigate.
Understands why people don’t think that she could take on a role like Rue. Took smaller roles so that she could prove that she could do more roles. Said she would rather be a supporting actress in an amazing film, instead of lead in a crappy movie.
Said she and Law would show up to red carpet events that she wasn’t even supposed to or need to be at, and would try to dress well at so that people could see her outside of Disney. But now she feels like she has to really show that she belongs in these spaces.
Says she has a love/hate rlshp with LA. Says NYC is so much easier to walk around and do stuff.
Has had the experience of bad contracts, saying yes to things that she didn’t really want to because she had to, learned many lessons, etc. Encourages people to READ their contracts. Says people will always try to low-ball you if you’re not careful. Also says that sometimes it’s good to recognize when you’re just not there yet!
Says Darnell is like a brother to her. Says her family keeps her grounded. Says she’s an introvert and isn’t extroverted. Says she has 2 friends lol.
Says she’s a very shy person and it’s hard to make small talk. Says she was a shy child growing up. Said that some people would mistakenly think she was cold at events but in reality she was just terrified and didn’t know what to say to people so she would just stay quiet. So she had to learn how to do small talk with people. Says she’s gotten better at it. Says it’s something you have to learn how to do in this industry.
Wants to create a business she can do outside of acting/the Hollywood world.
Says she believes that at the end of the day you just want to do what makes you happy, and that one day she might wake up and not want to do acting anymore, and might just want to make pottery lol. 😅🤣 And that’s perfectly okay lol. Says she took her first pottery class that year lol. “Let me know if you need some ceramics!!!” LOL 😅
She really wants to put her peace as a human and her happiness above everything else. So if acting doesn’t make her happy anymore, she won’t do it.
Also stated that when she was a kid she wanted to be the most famous person in the world yadda yadda yadda... .But NOW she doesn’t want that anymore at all. Says acting allows you to be a different character, whereas being in the music industry doesn’t really allow you to have any anonymity. Says she wants to have a part that still belongs to her. She wants success, but still wants to be happy as a person.
She’s really into cinematography now due to Euphoria.
Says she hates reading lol 😅 But she reads that contract!! 😅🤣 Says you can sign your life away if you’re not careful/read through your contracts. Read books on legal terms and did research in order to understand her terms and conditions in her contracts better.
Agrees with Issa that it’s almost inevitable that you will eventually get burned in this industry, but says that she had to dust herself off and not be too scared to try new things. Said she had to teach herself not to be too afraid of failing again. Views things now more as a lesson instead of a failure.
Says one time she was doing a cover for a magazine when she was much younger, and she wasn’t happy with her hair and makeup, and her publicist (at the time) said: “I wouldn’t really stir the pot because they haven’t really had a black girl on the cover in a really long time...so let’s not like....” 🥴 Said that was the last time she worked with that publicist because she feels that she should be allowed to say that she doesn’t like her hair and makeup and fix it, whether they’ve had a black girl on the cover in a while or not lol. (AMEN!)
Says black people have to change the mentality of “there can only be one”, and allow other black people to come in. Says that she would love to be a platform for other black creatives to come in and be creative, and give them a space in this industry. Says that when it comes to black people, it’s not about a lack of talent, but usually about a lack of opportunity. Says we have to share our opportunities and information w/each other.
Audience members had a chance to ask Zendaya questions....
Z says that if you have put in the work and the time, then you are for sure worthy (in answer to an audience member’s sad story about being looked down upon even though she’s a black female doctor). Says it’s something she’s still figuring out.
Says that she and Rue are very similar personality-wise. Says that she and Sam don’t seem like they would have much in common, but they like the same things, and that the way Rue is written is very comfortable. Feels like a little sister to her. Says she’s thankful that some of her ideas have ended up being written in the script.
Zendaya says her lifelong dream has nothing to do with the industry at all, and that she would love to raise enough money to buy this full-time functional place where inner city students can go and experience nature and heal. It’s something her mom used to try to do for her students when she was a teacher, but the place got closed down. So Z would like to raise money to buy that place so that it doesn’t have to fall on the burden of teachers.
Said that before when she was acting she didn’t really have much to emotionally pull from for acting-wise and felt that it was all just pretending because she hadn’t really been through stuff. Says that Euphoria was the first time when she wasn’t pretending. She has now seen for the first time the value of really feeling your feelings all the way through. Says that she’s not naturally a feeler, and doesn’t really like to feel things because she feels it makes her feel weak. But she said that Euphoria forced her to be exposed and dig up things she thought she had already dealt with, and brought it all out on camera. Said that it’s scary to do so on camera because on set there are tons of people watching her cry about some sh*t in her life through Rue. Says it’s scary, but you have to do it and allow yourself to be vulnerable...but in a healthy way. Deal with things and let it go so you can go home and be happy. Said it was very cathartic for her, and working on the show allowed her to get in touch with her own feelings and feel things. Says it’s so weird and uncomfortable, but it’s the foundation of being human...feeling things.
Overall, great interview!!! One of the most exposed (no holds barred) ones I’ve seen her do yet. 😃 👍
