(Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage via Getty Images)
Chicago — History-making Emmy winner Zendaya may be at the height of her career, but the coronavirus pandemic left her trying to figure herself, and career, out in the interim.
The global crisis temporarily, and permanently, closed businesses, halted travel and left many unemployed. The entertainment industry was not immune. And for the first time in 10 years, the 24-year-old Oakland native was forced to ask herself, “Who am I without [work]?,” she said in the February issues of GQ magazine.
“Which is a very scary thing to confront and work through, because I don’t really know Zendaya outside of the Zendaya who works. I didn’t realize how much my job and my art were a part of my identity as a human,” she expressed.
Zendaya, who’s been in the industry since a child, said she feels lost when she’s not working.
“I felt like, when I wasn’t working, my powers had gone away, and I was like, ‘I didn’t really know who I was and what makes me happy. What do I like to do? What else do I do? What is my value? What is my purpose now?,’” the new face of Valentino said.
Zendaya has considered taking up a new hobby, such as piano or learning a new language. She started watercolor painting after a co-star gifted her a sketchbook. And she even posed as her assistant to buy a new camera.
In the meantime, a special episode of HBO’s “Euphoria,” where she plays Rue Bennett, is expected to air Jan. 24, ahead of the second season. And “Malcolm & Marie,” where she co-stars with John David Washington, is set to release Feb. 5 on Netflix.