Zendaya Says Her Euphoria Character, Rue, Felt Like "Me in Another Version of My Life"

Updated on Oct 12, 2019 at 10:30 AM

Elle | Zoey Grossman

Zendaya has come a long way within the past few years. After she got her start on Disney Channel when she was only 14, the world has watched her blossom into an incredible young woman and actress. Most recently, the 23-year-old has been keeping busy with her roles in Spider-Man: Far From Home and on Euphoria, in which she plays a 17-year-old recovering drug addict name Rue. In Elle's Women in Hollywood issue, Zendaya opens up about her role in the latter and how, despite her overwhelming anxiety, the HBO series really helped her break out of her shell and push herself as an actress. Read some of her best quotes ahead.

On her anxiety: "Even though Euphoria coming out was amazing and exciting, it was also extremely stressful. It gave me a lot of anxiety every week. That's something I deal with; I have anxiety. I already know after this interview is over, I'm going to spiral about it for weeks."
On Euphoria's hiatus: "Euphoria was eight months of my life, and now that it's done I'm like, 'F*ck,' You put your sh*t out there, and it's a really terrifying thing to do. It's out for the world to see — it's so f*cking weird."

On buying her own house and making her own career decisions at 20: "I had grown up — I moved out, and it was time for me to be the sole voice in my career and make my own choices. I just had too many people I was trying to please, too many opinions, and I was constantly talked out of following my gut and my instinct. I don't have a road map for this sh*t — I grew up really, really fast. I learned to trust myself a lot more."

On how she relates to her character, Rue, on Euphoria: "Rue is just a combination of my sh*t and [Euphoria creator] Sam [Levinson]'s sh*t, and together we created her. I don't feel too dissimilar from Rue. It didn't feel fake to me; it felt like she was me in another version of my life."
On how Euphoria pushed her to be a better actress: "I think Euphoria taught me a lot about myself. It made me more confident in my own abilities, because I doubted myself a lot. I was looking for something to prove I can do it. Euphoria served as that, in the healthiest way. I never want to plateau as an actress — I always want to be able to explore and push myself. [Being an actress] brings me to places and makes me do things I'd probably never do because I'm such an introverted person. I know, I'm super hard on myself. People actually saying I did a good job at my craft . . . it's like, 'Damn, I did work hard. I'm glad you see that.' I should finally own that; it's liberating. I feel lucky."