Zendaya has voiced her frustration with facing questions about kissing scenes.
The Golden Globe winner has been on a press tour for “Challengers,” the tennis drama that includes a highly anticipated kiss between her and co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.
In a conversation with the “Euphoria” actress, an interviewer mentioned that it seems like there is a strong focus on asking Zendaya about her on-screen kissing scenes. Zendaya agreed, finding the attention strange, and responded, “It’s very odd.”
“Do you feel like as a society people have forgotten that an actor kissing another actor is literally part of your job? Or are they using it as an excuse to get you to talk about kissing?” interviewer Jake Hamilton asks.
“I have no idea,” Zendaya responded.
“I don’t know if it’s because they want it to be a viral thing, I don’t know. But I have noticed that, with me specifically. I feel like other actors don’t… if you were with somebody else here, you probably wouldn’t be asked that question. But, yeah, it is a part of my job, and it is a completely normal part of the job, I think, despite other people’s perceptions of our job.”
Throughout most of her career, Zendaya has been frequently asked about kissing scenes. In 2021, she revealed that she refused to kiss a co-star on her Disney Channel show “Shake It Up” because she had not yet had her first real-life kiss and did not want it to happen on television.
Zendaya was 16 years old when “Shake it Up” stopped airing in 2013. (Image: IMDB)
During the press tour for “Challengers,” Zendaya has faced numerous uncomfortable questions about kissing. One such instance was when Australian Channel 7’s Edwina Bartholomew asked Zendaya which of her co-stars was the “best kisser,” causing Zendaya to visibly grimace.
Zendaya and her “Dune” co-star Timothée Chalamet faced many questions about their kissing scenes during the movie’s promotional tour. At the Paris premiere, Chalamet addressed this by stating, “We’re pushing 30 and have been great friends for years. That was the nature of the job on this one and the nature of the script. It’s not more complicated than that.”
Challengers follows Tashi, a tennis player turned coach, who has transformed her husband from a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion. The movie is set to premier on later this week on the 26th of April.
