Tom Holland Explains Why He and Zendaya Don’t Want to Talk Publicly About Their Relationship
Tom Holland has made a few comments about his girlfriend Zendaya during his The Crowded Room press tour, but there’s a good reason the two stars won’t say much about their fan-favorite, years-long romance.
Holland told The Hollywood Reporter, when declining to talk about his partner for its cover story, “Our relationship is something that we are incredibly protective of and we want to keep as sacred as possible. We don’t think that we owe it to anyone, it’s our thing, and it has nothing to do with our careers.”
He did explain why Zendaya wasn’t at the premiere of The Crowded Room in New York City. “We’ve been to events together before,” Holland said. “But she’s visiting her grandma. We’re two very busy people, and we’re on the opposite sides of the world at this present time, so she couldn’t come.” He also mentioned Zendaya very briefly when discussing his love of golf: “I’ve given her a few lessons. She’s very naturally talented, a real athlete, so she picked it up really quickly.”
To Buzzfeed this week, he spoke about his feelings for Zendaya, although unsurprisingly did not talk in detail about their life together. Holland was asked on camera whether he has “rizz,” Gen Z slang for charisma.
“I have no rizz whatsoever, I have limited rizz,” he answered. “I need you to fall in love with me, really, for it to work. So, long game. Probably making a movie with each other—it definitely helps when the characters are falling in love with one another, you can sort of blur the lines a little bit. That’s kind of where my rizz is at. And, you know, I’m locked up. I’m happy and in love so I’ve got no need for rizz.”
Zendaya and Holland have spoken before about seeing their relationship as something just for them. Holland told GQ in November 2021, months after a video of them making out revealed their dating, “One of the downsides of our fame is that privacy isn’t really in our control anymore, and a moment that you think is between two people that love each other very much is now a moment that is shared with the entire world. I’ve always been really adamant to keep my private life private, because I share so much of my life with the world anyway. We sort of felt robbed of our privacy [when the kissing video came out].”
Zendaya added in a phone interview with GQ for the story that the interest in their romance “was quite strange and weird and confusing and invasive. The equal sentiment [we both share] is just that when you really love and care about somebody, some moments or things, you wish were your own…I think loving someone is a sacred thing and a special thing and something that you want to deal with and go through and experience and enjoy amongst the two people that love each other.”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
