Whether you are a longtime fan of Zendaya‘s or just getting to know her, the star’s newinterview with Complex is a definite must-read. She touches on a lot of subjects including her new album (sorry, there’s no release date yet) to why she turned down playing Aaliyah in Lifetime’s movie. She also discusses how other Disney stars have evolved in the music industry, including Miley Cyrus.
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“A lot of them were forced into being role models and they had to pretend to be something that they didn’t feel matched up with who they were,” Zendaya told the magazine. “You’ve got to realise when you’re really young you don’t know who you are yet.”
She said being a young star comes with “a lot of pressure” and sometimes before performers have a chance to figure themselves out, they are pushed into an image that doesn’t really represent them. “Everyone has their different ways of learning and growing and finding out who they are,” she said. “I think with all the prior Disney stars, at least you can say they are themselves now.”
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Asked if she’ll ever have a “Miley moment,” (aka a dramatic transformation to publicly ditch an image or persona one has been associated with for a long time) Zendaya said no, “there will be no surprises.”
“In order to avoid those problems just be yourself from the beginning and be honest with the world, because that’s the only thing you can do,” she said.
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Zendaya also opened up more about why she walked away from an opportunity to play Aaliyah, telling Complex she felt the production was being rushed and “just didn’t like the way things were going down.”
She said things came to her attention about the family’s lack of involvement and production value that she didn’t feel comfortable with.
“It really ate me up inside,” she said. “A lot of people thought that I knew that the family wasn’t involved, and I didn’t. I just auditioned like anyone else and got the job.”
Read Zendaya’s full interview with Complex here.
From: Harper’s BAZAAR US
