I’ll admit it—my teenage years were hella awkward and embarrassing at times. I’ve found cringe-worthy diary entries that would back me up on that. And luckily, famous people aren’t so different! Take Zendaya, who recently looked back at her first few YouTube videos, which she thought were a good idea when she filmed them at 14 years old.
Zendaya and a friend reacted to the old videos on her new app. In her defense, Zendaya explained, “I genuinely felt that I had to make a persona that matched Rocky, which is the character I used to play.” From 2010-2013, Zendaya starred alongside Bella Thorne on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up. “This is back when I literally had an entire alter ego, and this shit is so obnoxious I can’t even believe,” she continued. Don’t worry, I’m only laughing with you, Zendaya!
The two began by watching Zendaya’s first official YouTube video, where she claimed, “This is a place for happy, smiley faces.” Current Zendaya was not having it. “Happy, smiley faces—what the f**k? I was trying to make, like, this positive environment and trying to be, like, this f**king ray of sunshine,” she said, while her friend absolutely lost it.
They continued to go through Zendaya’s videos with lots of mocking and swearing—that is, when the actress wasn’t totally cracking up at herself. “I remember this. Like, dude, I remember making these videos,” she said. “Like, I seriously thought I was, like, a f**king mogul, because I was like, ‘Yo, this shit is so smart. I’m about to create this whole brand of, like, positive smiling shit. Disney’s going to love this.'”
“I need to delete these…because it’s so fake!” she concluded.
Stars, they’re just like us!