If someone fantasizes about being famous, what they’re most likely actually fantasizing about is being rich, and when we cast our minds to some of our favorite, most stylish celebrities, it’s easy to see why someone would conflate the two.
Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone daydreaming about having the paparazzi stick their noses into every nook and cranny of their personal life, garnering a legion of die-hard fans that won’t give them a moment’s peace or an equally sizeable number of haters who will move heaven and Earth to find and say the most horrible things about them, or having every single one of their comments be scrutinized top to bottom for the sake of manufactured drama that some people just can’t live without.
It certainly sounds like a side of the business that Zendaya would happily kick if she could; the 26-year-old actress has been in the fame game for 50 percent of her lifetime, and while she’s known for handling the trials and tribulations of fame with marked grace, her jump in popularity since Euphoria and the MCU’s Spider-Man films has proven to be quite a challenge.
In a recent interview with Elle, Zendaya opened up about the next echelon of fame she’s been finding herself in in recent years, noting how her ability to exist is public spaces is getting more frequently and more intensely compromised by gawking bystanders.
“After the last Spider-Man and the last season of Euphoria, there was a visceral change. Before, I could get away with going places and getting in and out. But in Boston, I would end up going right back home, because it was really overstimulating. Everybody would go hang out at a bar or something, and I’d be like, ‘I’d love to, but I think I could ruin everybody’s night. Because it’s just not going to be fun once I’m there.’”
Unfortunately, so long as people remain unsatisfied with their own lives, the relentless, invasive attention on people like Zendaya will only continue to grow. There is, of course, something to be said about the incredibly rare and opportunity-laden space that Zendaya gets to occupy — to say nothing of the privileges that come with it — but we’d all be remiss to ignore and subsequently disrespect the very real, very taxing consequences that such a space also harbors.
Published: Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am