Zendaya Opens Up About Her Anxiety And Self-Isolation

“But when I’m not working, I tend to isolate myself.”

Maryjane

• Published in Film & TV
• September 24, 2024

A Friday night gathering took place at the loft-style headquarters of WalkGood LA, a nonprofit dedicated to community wellbeing that is run by Ivy Coco Maurice and her brother Etienne. Zendaya attended as well as a few marketing executives who had flown in from the Swiss sports company On.

Officially, they talked about the actor's new multi-year deal with On. They arranged a private brainstorming session with the actress, the three brand executives, and the actors, who are longtime partners of On.

After being introduced to the brand by Challengers costume designer Jonathan Anderson, the actress took an immediate liking to it. Zendaya has been wearing the shoes and clothes on the red carpet and in other public settings ever since.

WalkGood LA served as the host in order to shed light on how On's mission, which is to "ignite the human spirit through movement," incorporates social impact. For Zendaya, both of those elements are extremely important.

For one, she adores the nonprofit's objective of assisting Black and Brown people in reestablishing connections with their communities through the arts and health. Also, On's well-established social impact initiatives were a significant factor in the partnership's attraction.

“People don’t really know On as well for their clothes,” Zendaya says. “I’m excited to help.”

So far, their emerging partnership has produced a recently released promotional film titled Dream Together, which was directed by choreographer C Prinz.

Meet Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, an American actress and singer

Zendaya is drawn to the On's sustainable technology saying:

“They have dyes that are made by sucking pollution out of the sky, and shoes made from castor beans, which can fully decompose. I don’t want to be just making stuff for the sake of it and adding to what’s already out there—I like that they’re using all the science available to be sustainable.”

Here is Zendaya during the filming of the Dream Together with On

She does, however, readily acknowledge that it's a little ironic that she's working with an athletic clothing company. Even though she has earned her athletic prowess in Challengers, she doesn't work out much on a regular basis.

She's actively working to change that, especially now that she's aware of the significant influence movement can have on her mental health and her anxiety issues in particular.

Zendaya also had more to add

"I think sometimes people assume that because of what they see of me, maybe I’m a certain way. But when I’m not working, I tend to isolate myself. My therapist, family, and friends will tell me, ‘You need to get up and get out,’ and I never want to—but when I make myself do it, I realize it’s actually kind of nice. I’m less anxious. I have to really be intentional about taking care of myself. I’m learning to be more responsible for myself and for my own body and looking after it all,” she says.

Zendaya on the Vogue page

Zendaya finds that taking care of her mental health in general is a work in progress, even though walking her dog keeps her from entirely shutting herself in when she's not working.

“Sometimes it’s just getting out of bed, telling myself, ‘We’re facing the day: we're taking a shower, we're putting on real clothes, we're seeing some sunshine.’ I try to set little challenges for myself.”

As reported by Elle, Zendaya has previously acknowledged that she used to have severe anxiety. This is not the first time that she has talked candidly about being aware of her mental health, and that's a good thing.

Maryjane