television

Zendaya covers the Jusly issue of Cosmopolitan looking like she’s trying to fix her shoe while showing off her incredible legs. I remember marveling at how she towered over Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Grammys and it turns out she’s 5’10″ tall, which is not surprising. She’s got to be over 6′ in heels. The people at Cosmo sent us some advance quotes and while I would be surprised to hear them from most other 19 year-old starlets (see: Chloe Grace Moretz), it’s typical of Zendaya to sound wise beyond her years. She emphasized that young people who are scared to see the direction of this year’s election need to actually go out and vote instead of just tweet about it. That may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s true. She also detailed an incident in which a former publicist was racially insensitive, so she sacked her. (I love that term! I never get to use that, it’s so British.) On the election and voting: “There’s really crazy stuff happening right now, and it’s disappointing, sad, and scary. My generation, we really have to step up to the plate and vote. Tweeting is great — people say, ‘Oh, I don’t want this or that’ — but at the end of the day, tweeting isn’t a ballot. Just saying that you don’t like someone on Twitter is not going to turn a state blue or red. You have to vote.” On her return to Disney as the star and co-producer of K.C. Undercover: “The only way I was going to come back to the Disney Channel was if I was in a position of more power. One thing that is really important to me is diversity on the channel. It’s hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.” On a situation on set with someone being racially insensitive: “I didn’t like my hair and makeup one time on a photo shoot, and my publicist told me, ‘You should just be happy with it — they haven’t had a black girl on the cover since forever.’ She’s no longer my publicist.” On being in love versus casual hookups: “Me, personally? I would much rather be in love and have the full experience with the person I’m doing that with. Everyone deserves to be in love — it’s different from when you’re with someone you don’t really know. But as long as you protect yourself and get tested periodically, then by all means, go ahead and do what you’ve got to do!” [from Cosmopolitan] I like how she was diplomatic about her own dating preferences vs. people who like casual sex. She doesn’t sound judgy. I mean she gets her dad to chaperone dates, which seems a little excessive at 19 but maybe that’s her choice too. Given how self-possessed she is, it seems likely that she would have a say in that. Also, is she dissing the Disney channel or just television in general for not being more representative of society? I would say she’s talking about TV as a whole, because the Disney channel seems like it’s somewhat diverse already. I bet Zendaya has helped make changes there. photos credit: WENN and Cosmopolitan