Zendaya had no choice but to hit the gym for new movie

Written by . Published: November 30 2017

Zendaya hit the gym pronto after being cast as a trapeze artist in The Greatest Showman to work on her upper body strength.


Starring opposite Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Michelle Williams in the musical about real-life visionary P.T. Barnum, director Michael Gracey revealed to the 21-year-old early on that he wasn’t keen on using a stunt double for the majority of the movie.

“Anybody who knows me knows I have no upper body strength. It’s not my jam,” Zendaya laughed to InStyle about her reaction to Michael’s request.

But after spending five months training by doing lots of core work and wrist exercises, Zendaya was ready to take to the trapeze with her co-star Zac.

“We rarely touch the ground, so it was quite the experience,” she recalled. “We had to do this thing where we swing across and swing apart and intertwine and spin around each other. And there’s a take where we literally just... bam!”

“I would (text) him, like, ‘Yo, does your frickin’ this hurt?’ It was good to have a partner who was just as excited as I was.”

The actress and singer graces the cover of the new issue of InStyle, showing off her flawless fashion sense in a matching blue velvet trousers and jacket combo, with her hair styled in a crimped afro.

And as her acting work continues to garner praise, so does her fashion sense. She was garlanded with the Style Star Award at the recent InStyle Awards, and spoke with the publication about why she chose to make her fashion and accessories line, Daya by Zendaya, which she co-designs with A-list stylist, Law Roach, unisex.

“I just felt that if I’m going to do a clothing line, that’s the only way I see it being done. That’s the future of fashion,” she shrugged.