Zendaya names her favourite guilty pleasure TV show: “And I was so against it, too”
Starting out on the Disney Channel, Zendaya soon proved herself to be a capable film star with her role in Spider-Man: Homecoming as Michelle, and since then, she has quickly ascended the ranks to become one of the most recognisable stars of her generation. After her success in the superhero franchise, Zendaya landed the lead role on HBO’s Euphoria, a show that is as widely beloved as it is controversial.
Following in the footsteps of raunchy teen shows like Skins, Euphoria isn’t afraid to show full-frontal nudity and sex while exploring topics like drug addiction, homophobia, death, abuse, and various other intense themes that many deemed unsuitable for young audiences. Despite the fact that these characters are meant to be in high school, not yet adults, the show doesn’t hold back, leading to much criticism aimed at the show’s writer, Sam Levinson.
Yet, Euphoria proved instantly popular with audiences, and Zendaya took home a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance as Rue Bennett, who attempts to stay clean following her time in rehab while grieving her late father and attempting to navigate a relationship with a new student. The series often depicts Rue’s mental health issues with no holds barred, showing the grim realities of being so depressed that you can’t even get out of bed, finding the smallest tasks the most insurmountable of challenges.
In the 2019 episode ‘The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed’, we see Rue become addicted to a certain British reality television show that has since become even more popular. Love Island becomes Rue’s poison of choice, swapping out opioids for brain-dead British singletons looking for love.
And can you blame her? Even some of the most staunch Love Island haters have found themselves watching an episode or two – I know from personal experience. Rue watches an episode of season four, telling us through narration, “I don’t want good TV. I don’t want a novel or some slow burn, or anything that feels like work. That’s why I love reality TV. It’s funny, it’s dramatic, and I can focus on it. It’s pure, effortless entertainment.”
She watches 22 hours of the series over two days during a depressive episode, she claims, but in real life, Zendaya wasn’t initially convinced. Talking to InStyle, the actor said, “I didn’t know about it until I spent five months in London shooting the second Spider-Man. I was like, ‘What is this?’ And I was so against it too — I was like, ‘Guys, this is ridiculous. You can’t watch this every day.’”
Yet, like many of us, curiosity got the better of her. “Then I was sucked in. I don’t remember it having a huge presence in America before that summer, but when I came back, the season that I saw ended up also being shown in Euphoria. It was during Rue’s depression episode and she was just stuck in her room, watching episode after episode of Love Island. Now it’s everywhere.”
Love Island might not be high-brow, but it certainly is a cultural phenomenon, and it currently stands as one of the most popular reality shows on television. For many British viewers of Euphoria, seeing the show on Rue’s laptop screen certainly came as a surprise, but now, it’s a worldwide sensation.
