A Timeline of Tom Holland and Zendaya’s Relationship (2024)

Tom Holland and Zendaya have brought romance back to pop culture. Back in 2017, their press tour for Spider-Man: Homecoming was a flirtatious tour de force: Zendaya always doubled over in laughter, Tom comforting an anxious Zendaya with a gentle hand on her knee, both of them constantly pulling the same silly face or one-liner out at the same exact time.

While the actors have always been private about their relationship, Zendaya opened up to Vogue in her recent cover story, saying that, these days, they are not letting paparazzi stop them from enjoying their lives. This includes trips to Paris, Usher concerts, and prosaic outings to the grocery store, photographers be damned. A day in the Louvre? They wouldn’t miss it. “You just kind of get used to the fact that, Oh, I’m also one of these art pieces you’re going to take a picture of. I just gotta be totally cool with it and just live my life,” she told Vogue.

Years of friendship have blossomed into romance, and it seems that Zendaya and Holland are more in love than ever. As we, the public, continue to swoon over this couple, let’s take a moment to go over all their notable moments from 2016 to now.

2016: Tom Holland and Zendaya are cast in Marvel’s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise

This is where it all begins. The two are cast as Spiderman and MJ for Marvel’s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. The first installment, Spider-Man: Homecoming, begins production in June 2016 and is released in July 2017. Producer Amy Pascal warned them not to date, telling The New York Times, “I took Tom and Zendaya aside, separately, when we first cast them and gave them a lecture: ‘Don’t go there—just don’t. Try not to.” Thankfully for all of us, Pascal’s warning didn’t quite take.

Here, we offer the young men of Hollywood a piece of advice: do not offer your hand to Zendaya lest you face crippling public embarrassment. (See: Her denying Paul Mescal as she ascends the steps of the SAG Awards.) The only man whose hand she will take is Mr. Tom Holland’s.

2017: They deny dating rumors on the press tour for the first Spider-Man movie

Any time two young costars appear to have chemistry, the world (read: the internet) goes wild with speculation. Zendaya and Holland responded to rumors about them by fully shutting down the idea they were romantically involved. In response to a tweet that presumed the costars had gone on vacation together, Zendaya writes, “Wait wait...my favorite is when it says we go on vacations together HA! I haven’t been on a vacation in years! hbu @TomHolland1996 ???”

Holland tweets back, “Does the press tour count.”

2019–2020: They reportedly date other people

From what we can deduce, Zendaya and Holland were not always together after their Spider-Man days. In 2019, Zendaya was spotted with her Euphoria costar Jacob Elordi, getting a little kiss on the head from the actor as they strolled around New York City. Meanwhile, Holland went public with British actress Nadia Parkes via an Instagram post.

July 2021: Paparazzi capture the two kissing in a car in Los Angeles

Up to this point, Zendaya and Holland appeared to the public as nothing more than friends and co-stars. Then, photos were released of the two kissing in a car at a red light. The world lost its mind, but official confirmation of their relationship would not come for a long time.

September 2021: They make their relationship Instagram official

The moment a relationship is immortalized on social media is major—and that moment finally arrived for the couple on Zendaya’s 25th birthday. Holland posted a tender tribute on Instagram with a sweet behind-the-scenes film photo from the Spider-Man set. In the caption he writes: “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays, Gimme a call when your [sic] up xxx.”

November 2021: Tom presents a united front

In a story for GQ, Holland discusses life in the public eye. “One of the downsides of our fame is that privacy isn’t really in our control anymore, and a moment that you think is between two people that love each other very much is now a moment that is shared with the entire world,” he says, alluding to the paparazzi photos of him and Zendaya. “I’ve always been really adamant to keep my private life private, because I share so much of my life with the world anyway. We sort of felt robbed of our privacy.”

Holland went on that he could not wax poetic about his and Zendaya’s relationship without her beside him, weighing in. “It’s not a conversation that I can have without her,” he explains. “You know, I respect her too much to say … This isn’t my story. It’s our story. And we’ll talk about what it is when we’re ready to talk about it together.”

March 19, 2023: The couple is seen wearing each other’s initials around town.

Zendaya and Holland are all about quiet luxury—at least when it comes to their declarations of love. For Zendaya, it’s an adorable new signet ring featuring Holland’s initials—“TH”— per a video shared by her manicurist on Instagram Stories. For Holland, it’s the embroidered letter “Z” (presumably for “Zendaya”) on a bunch of his pants. Both are small, intimate gestures that speak volumes.

April 19, 2023: Zendaya leans on Tom during Euphoria

Zendaya speaks to Entertainment Tonight about her brutal turn as Rue on Euphoria. The last season of the HBO hit was especially heavy, and Holland told told IMDb that he had visited the Euphoria set “at least 30 times” during the filming. Zendaya confirmed to ET that Holland “supported me through the whole season.”

“I think it’s great to have that support and love around you, because you need that,” she says. For Zendaya, spending time with Holland helps her detach from the emotionally brutal work she does on the show. “This isn’t an easy job, so it’s good to have that to free you up from it every now and then,” she says.

June 13, 2023: Tom is “happy and in love”

Ever the humble king, Holland jokes about his lack of charisma in an interview with Buzzfeed—and, in turn, lets everyone know just how content he is with Zendaya.

“I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz,” he tells the outlet. “I need you to fall in love with me, really, for it to work. So, long game. Probably making a movie with each other—[it] definitely helps when the characters you’re playing are falling in love with one another; you can sort of blur the lines a little bit. That’s kind of where my rizz is at. And I’m, you know, I’m locked up, so I’m happy and in love. So I’ve got no need for rizz.”

August 23, 2023: Zendaya is a vault

In Elle’s September 2023 cover story, the Euphoria star spoke openly about how much she values her peace, especially when it comes to her highly publicized relationship.

“Parts of my life, I accept, are going to be public,” she says. “I can’t not be a person and live my life and love the person I love. But also, I do have control over what I choose to share. It’s about protecting the peace and letting things be your own but also not being afraid to exist. You can’t hide. That’s not fun, either. I am navigating it more than ever now.”

September 4, 2023: Zendaya and Tom do date night at Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour

Not everyone nailed the mute challenge during Beyonce’s live performance of “Energy,” but Zendaya and Holland certainly did. The couple went all out for Beyoncé’s Los Angeles show on September 4, which turned into a star-studded extravaganza for the singer’s 42nd birthday. (Zendaya and Beyonce are both, unsurprisingly, Virgos.) In accordance with Queen B’s silver-themed birthday dress code, Zendaya wore an oversized blazer paired with matching Bermuda shorts, all in a dazzling silver sequin.

Fan-captured videos show the couple holding hands as they find their seats, running into Abbot Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri along the way. Other videos show them dancing the night away together.

January 23, 2024: Tom adores Zendaya’s Paris Fashion Week look

Zendaya’s front-row look at Schiaparelli’s spring 2024 haute couture runway show was jaw-dropping: a sleek all-black gown with a dramatic twisted train that trailed behind her as she walked. No one was more stunned by her look than Holland. The actor posted a series of photos of Zendaya in front of the venue with heart-eye emojis, writing atop one video, “This was made for me.”

February 22, 2024: Zendaya nominates Tom for “Most Rizz”

When asked who out of the Dune: Part Two cast has the most rizz, Zendaya’s answer is, improbably, Tom Holland.

“I don’t know. ‘Rizz’ is short for charisma, right? Everybody’s kind of got their own,” she tells Buzzfeed. “I think someone who has beautiful charisma, not on the Dune cast, but I personally—works for me—is Mr. Tom Holland.”

She goes on to say, “I’m more shy and kind of quiet, so it takes a little bit more to pull me out of my shell. But he’s great at just talking to people and getting to know people. You see him on talk shows and stuff like that. He’s just naturally very good at that. Whereas for me, I’ve definitely had to pull it out of me a little bit. So, he’s got that natural gift.”

March 17, 2024: Holland and Zendaya hit the BNP Paribas Open

Zendaya and Holland bring tennis-chic to the Indian Wells Open in California. The two look beyond cozy sitting courtside together, watching the match and chatting. Zendaya wore an all-white Louis Vuitton ensemble, with a tennis-inspired pleated miniskirt and sneakers. Holland opted for a maroon cardigan and orange-tinted sunglasses.

They watched with rapt attention—that is, until Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” came on and they were spotted singing and grooving along to the tune, all smiles on the big screen.

April 9, 2024: Zendaya Discusses Tom’s Meteoric Rise

In her Vogue cover story, Zendaya opens up about her relationship with Holland. The Challengers star is still in awe of how gracefully Holland took to overnight fame after being cast as Peter Parker in Marvel’s 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming.

“We were both very, very young, but my career was already kind of going, and his changed overnight. One day you’re a kid and you’re at the pub with your friends, and then the next day you’re Spider-Man,” she says. “I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him. But he handled it really beautifully.”

Now a few years out from the massive Marvel franchise, Zendaya is in some of the buzziest movies of the year, between Dune: Part Two and Challengers, while Tom is set to appear in a West End production of William Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet.

Zendaya told Vogue she “could not be more proud” of Holland’s work in in the play. She plans to “try to see as many shows as I possibly can.”