Zendaya found The One in her fiancé, Tom Holland, after realizing her relationship “green” and “red flags.”
“As I’ve matured, I think a red flag is a red flag, you feel me?” Zendaya, 29, told The Drama costar Robert Pattinson in an Interview magazine conversation published Tuesday, February 17. “One that works for us at work is how people treat their crews.”
She continued, “I admire people who are kind to everyone, not just the actors, directors or producers. A very telling thing is how a crew feels about a particular actor, because they get to see how people are when the cameras are not rolling.”
Zendaya further explained that such traits are primarily exposed early into a relationship.
“Yes and no? People are layered and complex and they make mistakes,” the actress told Interview. “There are cultural differences, but there are also things that are just kind of, ‘Well, that’s rude. That’s mean.’ And there’s also the opposite. You can know someone for a long time and they can change, or you get to know them on a deeper level and you’re like, ‘Whoa. I didn’t see that side of you.’”
Zendaya and Holland, 29, have been together since 2021 after starring together in Spider-Man: Homecoming. They got engaged in late 2024.
“I’m learning how to balance those things,” Zendaya told Pattinson, 39, while praising his ability to keep his relationship with Suki Waterhouse and their daughter relatively private. “At the end of the day, you’re a public figure, there’s nothing you can do, but some things are meant for yourself and for your loved ones.”
She added, “[There’s] also allowing for that space between the anonymity of you, so that you can play someone else and they won’t necessarily always put you in. … I do try to have privacy, not just for characters, but for me in real life. I try to be honest to who I am when I am in public, but I also try to keep things for myself.”
While Zendaya attempts to keep her relationship to herself, she did acknowledge that anyone who doesn’t accept her beloved pet dog would fall on the “red flag” list.
“I would get into a fight over my dog, for sure,” she quipped. “I don’t know. Dogs are a good judge of character.”
Zendaya is a proud puppy parent to a miniature schnauzer named Noon, whom she admittedly babies like a real child.
“I’d say quintessential Hollywood s*** is probably how I am with my dog. They get their fancy meals with the vitamin supplements,” Zendaya revealed to Interview. “It sounds very ridiculous when I talk about it, but I love my child. That’s probably the most ridiculous Hollywood thing about me [is] how my dog be living.”
Holland has also formed a special relationship with Noon.
“His favorite place is probably anywhere my mom is, Darnell [Appling, my friend] is or Tom is,” Zendaya told Vanity Fair in 2024 of her pup. “He loves all three of them more than he loves me.”
