BY CARDI B
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She is only 21, but Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman feels more like a 70-year-old grandmother than a fresh-faced ingénue who can sing, dance, act, and even fly trapeze. Here, the multi-talented starlet talks with Cardi Babout her mature nature, chasing happiness, and finding the “hood” in her.
Cardi B: You’re so young, you’re such a baby. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Zendaya: I want to chase what makes me happy. And what I mean is, I don’t care what I’m doing if I love what I’m doing—making movies or music. And the day that I decide that it doesn’t make me happy, I’m going to do something else. I don’t necessarily want all the fame or awards in the world, because that doesn’t mean anything. I would much rather be happy than be miserable with all these accolades.
CB: Right. A lot of people think that just making money and having fame makes you happy and it really don’t. What is your biggest fear?
Z: Sometimes, as a young person in this industry, I put a lot of pressure on myself to do the right thing. I think this is a flaw of mine. I get so afraid to make the wrong decisions, but I have to understand that I’m only 21 years old. I’m not going to always be perfect. You cannot let the fear of not being perfect stop you from doing anything at all. I still have a lot of things left to do in my career and it’s okay to frickin’ learn from a situation and grow from it.
CB: To me, you seem so angelic. You know, you are the Disney star. You seem like such a sweetheart. But…I know you’re from Oakland. My best friend is from Oakland, and she’s hood as fuck. That bitch is a fucking gangster. Do you think that you got some hood in you?
Z: Absolutely, there is definitely “hood” in me and it will never leave. It’s part of who I am, as it is part of my family. Listen, I was born and raised in Oakland, all my family is from there—multiple generations of Colemans. And they’re not from the Oakland Hills, we are from the hoods of Oakland. It’s something that I’m proud of and I’m lucky to be where I’m from. My aunties held Black Panther party meetings in the downstairs basement of our house that I grew up in. You learn so much from those experiences and from those stories.
