It’s official: Zendaya is tired of being asked about her kissing scenes.
As you’re probably aware, Zendaya’s 2024 has gotten off to a busy start with the back-to-back releases of two very highly anticipated movies, starting with Dune: Part Two, which hit theaters in March.
If you’ve not seen it, Zendaya stars in the sequel as Chani, and a lot of the film centers around her budding relationship with Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet.
However, despite there being much to discuss about the sci-fi epic, a recurring theme throughout Timothée and Zendaya’s promotional interviews for the film was their onscreen romance — namely, whether they found it weird to kiss.
Because Timothée and Zendaya are factually two of their generation's most acclaimed young stars, the juvenile questioning about their kissing scenes prompted backlash among fans, with many feeling that the topic sought to undermine their professionalism.
But unfortunately for Zendaya, the weird kissing questions didn’t stop with Dune. On the current press tour for her new movie, Challengers, the 27-year-old has been forced to deal with yet more commentary about her kisses with onscreen costars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist.
And now, after months of online discourse about the bizarre questions, Zendaya has finally given her thoughts on the “abnormal” public interest surrounding her kissing scenes.
In a recent interview, reporter Jake Hamilton brought up the subject by asking Zendaya if she feels people “have forgotten that an actor kissing another actor is literally a part of your job,” or if people were using the questions as “an excuse to get you to talk about kissing.”
In response, Zendaya agreed that the whole thing was “very odd,” expressing that she has “no idea” why she’s been subject to these lines of questioning more than other actors throughout her career.
Viewers shared similar sentiments in the YouTube comments section and praised Jake for asking the question. Interestingly, they also theorized that the public’s obsession with Zendaya’s relationship with Tom Holland has contributed to all the hype surrounding her kissing scenes.
Notably, it was only a few weeks ago that Zendaya’s costar Josh was widely praised for his measured response to a red carpet reporter who asked him if it was awkward to shoot romantic scenes with Zendaya “knowing she’s Spider-Man's girlfriend.”
In the past, both Tom and Zendaya have talked candidly about some fans’ sense of entitlement to information about their relationship, describing it as “one of the downsides” to their fame.
You can watch Zendaya, Mike, and Josh’s full Challengers interview with Jake Hamilton here.
