Singer-actress Zendaya has talked about some of her regrets from her early years, saying that she wishes she went to school instead of being a child actor. In an interview published online Tuesday for Vogue’s May issue, she shared what it was like to be the “breadwinner” for her family at an early age.
“I don’t know how much of a choice I had,” she said. “I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor.”
“We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental,” she added. “I think only now, as an adult, am I starting to go, Oh, okay, wait a minute: I’ve only ever done what I’ve known, and this is all I’ve known.”
The ‘Dune’ actress, now 27, started her career on ‘Disney’s Shake It Up’ at the age of 13 before winning her blockbuster role in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. She said she feels like she’s “almost going through my angsty teenager phase now.”
“I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becoming grown, really,” the Disney Channel star explained.
She said she also felt pressured to live up to the expectations of others and be the ideal person, adding that she often feels “very tense” when she gets opportunities.
She expressed, “Now, when I have these moments in my career — like, my first time leading a film that’s actually going to be in a theater — I feel like I shrink, and I can’t enjoy all the things that are happening to me. I’m very tense, and I think that I carry that from being a kid and never really having an opportunity to just try s***.”
“And I wish I went to school,” she added.
Her interview comes after she wrapped off her latest production, Challengers, which takes Zendaya to a new place given her character Tashi is in her early thirties. It will be released in theaters in late April.
The “Greatest Showman” actress has previously won two Emmys for Best Lead Actress in a Drama and has represented brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Bulgari, Lancôme, Valentino, and Louis Vuitton.