{"id":11974,"date":"2021-01-28T00:59:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T00:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=184983"},"modified":"2021-02-04T02:28:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T02:28:03","slug":"zendaya-malcolm-and-marie-backlash-age-gap","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/zendaya-malcolm-and-marie-backlash-age-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Zendaya Would Like To Remind Us All That She&#8217;s A Grown Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCZhqB9gCUZ\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"13\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCZhqB9gCUZ\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/p>\n<div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\"><svg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"><g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><g transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\"><g><path d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\"><\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\"> View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCZhqB9gCUZ\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\">A post shared by Zendaya (@zendaya)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After her standout performance in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Euphoria<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s first season as Rue, a troubled teen with a drug addiction, which resulted in her becoming the youngest person to ever with the Emmy for Best Actress for a Drama Series, Zendaya\u2019s new project has a lot of hype around it &#8211; so much so that it after a huge bidding war, it was sold to Netflix for $30m USD <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the promo alone.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Filmed completely in quarantine in just a two-week period,<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Malcolm &amp; Marie<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tells the story of a couple, Marie, played by Zendaya, and Malcolm, played by John David Washington, who spend an evening discussing their past relationships as they await critics\u2019 responses to Malcolm\u2019s new film.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But ahead of its release, with nothing but a black and white trailer to go off, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malcolm &amp; Marie <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is already causing controversy. On Twitter, people noted that they take issue with Zendaya and Washington\u2019s 12-year age difference &#8211; it was filmed while Washington was 35, and Zendaya 23 &#8211; saying that it speaks to a wider issue when it comes to castings in Hollywood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy criticism of the film is that Zendaya could\u2019ve gotten a male costar HER age,\u201d one person wrote. \u201cJohn almost 40 years old. It\u2019s tiring for me\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI really hope people realize that no one is saying Zendaya is a bad actress or person for that movie,\u201d another noted. \u201cBut that the practice of casting younger actresses with men that are older than them is a symptom of bigger problem in Hollywood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CJyqpjwjFoU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"13\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CJyqpjwjFoU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/p>\n<div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\"><svg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"><g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><g transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\"><g><path d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\"><\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\"> View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CJyqpjwjFoU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\">A post shared by Zendaya (@zendaya)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acknowledging the backlash, Zendaya told E!&#8217;s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YggkySqXOVA\" target=\"_blank\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Pop<\/span><\/i><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that she understands why people have trouble seeing her as an adult given they &#8220;grew up with me as a child.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve played a 16-year-old since I was 16,&#8221; she said, referencing her Disney Channel shows <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shake It Up <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> K.C. Undercover.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8220;You have to remember people also grew up with me as a child.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It&#8217;s like watching, I guess, your younger sibling \u2014 now they&#8217;re grown, and you&#8217;re not ready for it,\u201d she continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard for people to wrap [their heads] around the idea that I am grown in real life, even though I do play a teenager on television still,&#8221; she added, referring to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Euphoria.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this week, during an interview with Carey Mulligan for Variety&#8217;s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/film\/news\/carey-mulligan-zendaya-promising-young-woman-malcolm-and-marie-1234891808\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Actors on Actors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Zendaya also admitted that while she is &#8220;grateful&#8221; for her &#8220;Disney kid&#8221; roots, she\u2019s been wary of taking risks because of her connection to that realm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve always felt that I could bring things to the table: that I could be creative and free to try things, and put out bad ideas,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Because of the Disney kid thing, I get scared of that kind of thing.&#8221; She continued, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;[Disney Channel is] where I started, and I learned so much from that experience. It&#8217;s just kind of been this slow progression, and I am happy that it&#8217;s all been to prove it to myself and not to anybody else.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for Washington, he seems just as unbothered by the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malcolm &amp; Marie<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> backlash, telling <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/film\/awards\/john-david-washington-malcolm-and-marie-interview-1234883764\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Variety<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in an interview earlier this month that he &#8220;wasn&#8217;t concerned&#8221; about it. &#8220;She is a woman,&#8221; Washington said of Zendaya. &#8220;People are going to see in this film how much of a woman she is.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12604\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12604\" style=\"width: 682px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12604\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/01\/GettyImages-1063362916.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12604\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">HOLLYWOOD, CA &#8211; NOVEMBER 18: John David Washington attends the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences&#8217; 10th annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood &amp; Highland Center on November 18, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;She has far more experience than I do in the industry,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I&#8217;ve only been in it for seven years. She&#8217;s been in it longer, so I&#8217;m learning from her. I&#8217;m the rookie. I was leaning on her for a lot. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What I&#8217;m really excited for people to see when the film is released \u2013 they&#8217;re going to see how mature she is in this role.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Others on Twitter noted that while there is an age gap between the co-stars, Zendaya is older than Margot Robbie was (22) when she played Leonardo DiCaprio&#8217;s wife on<em> The Wolf of Wall Street<\/em> and older than Kiera Knightley was in <em>Pride &amp; Prejudice<\/em> (20). Plus, given Zendaya was the one to pull the whole movie together &#8211; calling <i>Euphoria\u00a0<\/i>creator Sam Levinson to bring him on board and joining the production team as <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">executive producer &#8211; she likely had a huge role in the casting of Washington and feels just fine to be starring alongside him. Either way, we know where we&#8217;ll be on February 5th: glued to Netflix watching <em>Malcolm &amp; Marie.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9593,"featured_media":11975,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zendaya Responds To &#039;Malcolm &amp; Marie&#039; Age Gap Backlash<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After her standout performance in Euphoria\u2019s first season as Rue, a troubled teen with a drug addiction, which resulted in her becoming the youngest person to ever with the Emmy for Best Actress for a Drama Series, Zendaya\u2019s new project has a lot of hype around it - so much so that it after a huge bidding war, it was sold to Netflix for $30m USD on the promo alone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/zendaya-malcolm-and-marie-backlash-age-gap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zendaya Would Like To Remind Us All That She&#039;s A Grown Woman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After her standout performance in Euphoria\u2019s first season as Rue, a troubled teen with a drug addiction, which resulted in her becoming the youngest person to ever with the Emmy for Best Actress for a Drama Series, Zendaya\u2019s new project has a lot of hype around it - 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