THEY have become Holly- wood’s latest golden couple after starring as the comic book lovebirds Spider-Man and MJ.
But seven years after meeting on the set of the Marvel film, California-born Zendaya has admitted she still can’t understand the South London slang of boyfriend Tom Holland.
Marvel star Zendaya is one half of Hollywood’s latest golden couple, thanks to her relationship with Brit actor Tom HollandCredit: Getty
Zendaya and Tom met in 2016 when they were cast alongside each other in Marvel reboot Spider-Man: HomecomingCredit: Getty
In an exclusive chat with The Sun on Sunday, she said: “I love the British accent, but as much as Tom tries to explain it to me, I will never understand rhyming slang.
“Like I understand the concept — but what do apples and pears have to do with stairs?
“It’s cute when he tells me all the different phrases — but I really don’t get it!”
Zendaya, 26 — full name Zendaya Coleman — who also starred in HBO hit Euphoria, was first linked to Tom, also 26, in 2016 when they were cast alongside each other in Marvel reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming.
And despite their combined Instagram following of 241million fans, Zendaya and Tom proved they were just like any other couple when they were snapped pushing their Waitrose trolley in South West London last month.
It comes after they were reported to have picked up the keys to a £3million, six-bed pad in Richmond last year — four miles from Kingston upon Thames, where Tom grew up.
Settling into life in London, Zendaya said: “He is really good in the kitchen, which is fortunate as I am really accident-prone.
“We learnt early on that only one of us could be in the kitchen at a time, we are both control freaks so we can’t be in there together.”
Meanwhile, in an age of filtered Instagram posts and cosmetic surgery, Zendaya stressed that she is keen to maintain her natural looks and prove that beauty comes in all forms.
She explained: “I think we should be embracing ourselves.
“I have been Photoshopped and I called it out because it creates these unrealistic expectations of beauty and what we as women should look like.
“I try to encourage young women to be real and to accept themselves for how they are. And if I am going to preach that, I have to try to live that.
“We have this pressure as young women to look perfect, to have perfect careers, and while we all want to be successful we have to be kind to ourselves.”
In 2019, Zendaya was cast in drama Euphoria, which followed a group of high school teenagers thrust into a world of drugs, sex and trauma.
Zendaya played Rue Bennett — an androgynous character who has recently come out of rehab — and defended the graphic content amid the #MeToo and Times Up movement.
She told The Sun on Sunday: “There will always be a way to go because there is no finishing line.
“It’s about encouraging women to be confident enough to speak out about those who abuse their influence and power.”
She also told The Daily Telegraph in Australia: “There is something to women owning their sexuality.
“And I think as long as it’s done in a way where the woman is the focus, rather than male-gazing or sexualising a female, it can be very empowering.”
Born to Claire and Kazembe, both teachers, in September 1996 in Oakland, California, Zendaya was thrust into the spotlight aged 14 when she was cast in Disney’s Shake It Up as Rocky Blue.
But it was not until The Greatest Showman in 2017, as trapeze artist Anne Wheeler, that she turned heads in Hollywood — starring alongside Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman.
In 2020, aged 24, she became the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Out-standing Lead Actress In A Drama Series, following her role as Rue.
The real-life couple play lovebirds Spider-Man/Peter Parker and MJ in Spider-ManCredit: Alamy
She went on to make history again last year when scooping the award for the second time.
She also played Chani in 2021’s Dune.
Zendaya was rumoured to have dated Euphoria co-star Jacob Elordi after the pair were pictured twice on holiday in 2019, before being snapped kissing in New York.
But it is her relationship with Tom that has won the hearts of her fans.
Tom, who trained in ballet and tap for his West End debut as Michael in Billy Elliot in 2008, was destined to wear the Spider-Man suit after growing up with a Marvel duvet and more than 30 costumes in his childhood bedroom.
In June 2015 he signed a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios — with comic book legend and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee revealing that Tom was the “exact age and height” for the superhero he had envisioned.
But it was Zendaya, who was cast as love interest “MJ”, who helped him navigate the highs and lows of being in the spotlight.
“We are like the best of friends. She’s so great and amazing,” Tom told People magazine in June 2016.
He added: “I’m a little worried [about dealing with fame] but Zendaya is super-famous and she’s been through this, so I just call her up and say, ‘How do I manage being famous?’
“I’m very glad I have a friend like her.”
But as fans went into overdrive speculating on their romance, the pair kept tight-lipped about their relation-ship until July 2021 — when they were caught kissing in Tom’s £90,000 Audi sports car at a red light in Los Angeles.
Dressed in his Spider-Man red lycra, Tom went Instagram official with Zendaya in September 2021 and garnered more than 20million likes for a mirror selfie of the pair backstage.
He wrote: “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays. Gimme a call when you’re up xx.”
In October 2021, Zendaya told the InStyle podcast: “He really loves being Spider-Man and he really cares. It is a lot of pressure.
“You take on the role of a superhero wherever you go now.
“The little kid who walks by — you are Spider-Man to them and I think he handles that so well.”
She continued: “He is a perfectionist. I just watch him do a fight scene all day, exhausting, and then he would do a move and then come back to the monitors and watch it and be like, ‘I can do that better, I can do that better’.
“Then he will go back out, do it again and come back and be like, ‘My arm wasn’t right’.
“I would be like, ‘Dude, you got it, you got it’. But he wants it to be perfect.
“He is very charismatic, he can make anybody feel comfortable and have a good laugh and a good chat — I sound so British!”
But asked if she can do a British accent, she added: “Ish . . . what I end up doing is soundbites from Love Island!”
Zendaya was thrust into the spotlight aged 14 when she was cast in Disney’s Shake It Up as Rocky BlueCredit: Getty
