Known for her captivating performances and dazzling fashion sense, Zendaya has become one of the biggest names in Hollywood. She rose to the ranks with her debut show “Shake It Up” and made her mark on the silver screen with “Spider-Man Homecoming”.
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She is considered a truly phenomenal actress and has achieved global fanfare at a very young age. She had already worked in blockbuster movies like “Dune” and “No Way Home” at the age of 25. But even the most confident stars have their hidden vulnerabilities, and Zendaya recently revealed a surprising detail from her past that left her “Dune: Part Two” co-stars in amazement.
Zendaya Repeated Her Kindergarten Due to Her Shyness
Zendaya has been in the news since a very young age due to her breakout role in Disney’s Shake it Up. However, not many years before going into acting, Zendaya was actually very shy. She was so hesitant that she had to repeat her kindergarten to gain some social skills.
In a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Zendaya and her Dune: Part Two co-stars Austin Butler, Timothee Chalamet, and Florence Pugh played the True and False game. In one of the questions, Kimmel asked “Zendaya had to repeat Kindergarten! True or False?” This left the co-star puzzled with Chalamet exclaiming “Careful now!”.
Nonetheless, all three actors gave their answer in negative as they did not believe that their co-actor had to repeat kindergarten. However, Zendaya revealed that she did, in fact, repeat kindergarten.
“No! Really? No! I believed in you. I believed in you” – Austin Butler on Zendaya’s confession
“I did kindergarten twice ’cause I was too shy. So like, whenever I didn’t understand something in class, I would not raise my hand and say “hey, I need help” and they would just move on, and I could not keep up. So I did it twice” – Zendaya on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Florence Pugh was a bit confused on this matter, and asked if Zendaya did “every year twice”. Marvel’s MJ then clarified that no, “just kindergarten”.
Zendaya Had Previously Discussed About Her Reserved Nature As a Child
This was not the first time Zendaya had talked about her shy nature as a kid. In an older interview with The GQ, she revealed how she did not talk to anyone during her initial days. Her nature was sometimes mistaken as arrogance, due to which she started talking more and more.
“In this industry, I had to learn how to do small talk and stuff, because I guess I would kind of come off cold to people because I didn’t really know how to start conversation. I remember my stylist was like, ‘You come off kind of cold. People think you’re mean because you don’t talk,’ when really I just was too nervous.” – Zendaya on The GQ
Her mother Claire Stoermer talked to Vogue during Zendaya’s silver screen debut in 2017. She revealed that her daughter had to repeat kindergarten to improve her social skills.
“She would sit in the circle with the other kids and be totally silent.” – Claire Stormer to Vogue
Dune: Part Two is set to release in theatres on March 1, 2024.
