With a hit Disney show under her belt, a growing harem of fashion followers and her film debut in “Spider Man: Homecoming” this July, Zendaya may have finally found her place in Hollywood.
But things haven’t always been so good for the 20-year-old July Vogue cover star. She was extremely shy as a child – so shy that her parents, Kazembe Ajamu and Claire Stoermer, took seminars to remedy the issue. Zendaya was also forced to repeat kindergarten due to her shyness.
“She would sit in the circle with the other kids and be totally silent,” her mother said.
But that changed when Zendaya was introduced to performing. By age 13 she had landed her first Disney show, “Shake It Up,” which lasted from 2010 to 2013.
And even though she’s had tremendous success, there are still hurdles. Her mother tells a time when Zendaya was slated to play Aaliyah in a 2014 biopic but was criticized for not being “black enough.”
“It’s a hard thing in Hollywood when you’re mixed,” Stoermer said. “You’re not white enough to be white, and you’re not black enough to be black.”
Over the years, Zendaya attempted to create several identities, including a picture-perfect Disney persona. “Slowly I realized that was stupid,” she said. “People think I’m cool when I’m Zendaya.”
With two movies in the works, she’s well on her way to becoming the breakout star of the year.
As LL Cool J said, “She’s cool. You can manufacture fame. You can manufacture publicity. You can manufacture songs. You can’t manufacture cool.”