Zendaya still has “a little animosity” about losing the “Dancing With the Stars” Mirrorball Trophy to singer Kellie Pickler in 2013.
The “Challengers” star told W magazine that, in retrospect, she wished she’d been less stressed about the competition and enjoyed the experience more.
“Listen, I’m still harboring a little animosity about that,” she told the magazine. “I felt that loss. I was only 16 years old, and it was highly stressful.”
She added, “Being on live television every week? It’s so scary. I took it very seriously, which, in retrospect, I wish I didn’t. I wish I’d enjoyed it a little bit more and just was like, ‘Eh, whatever.’ You know what I mean? But I was stressing myself out. I really went through it on that.”
Zendaya and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy came in second, while Pickler and Derek Hough took the top prize in Season 16.
The actress said she no longer watches “DWTS,” but admitted to being a fan of the Netflix reality series “Love Is Blind.”
“I love, unfortunately, ‘Love Is Blind,’ and then I feel bad for watching it. So it’s a guilty pleasure, I suppose. It’s brutal. I’m like, ‘Dang, you guys know you’re on camera?’” she said.
The actress, who got her start on the Disney Channel series “Shake It Up,” also said that she was “a shy kid” before she began acting.
“I gained confidence and a sense of self when I started to audition. I’d create my own little outfits, do my own hair and makeup. Falling into different characters helped me get out of my shell.”
She also explained why she loved playing her characters on HBO’s “Euphoria” and “Challengers”:
“A reason why I love my job is it allows me the space to be less self-critical and try things, because I don’t have to deal with the consequences of the character’s actions in real life. When I’m Rue or when I’m Tashi, for example, I can just be messy, let the instincts come, and not judge myself because I’m not judging them.”
