Zendaya Coleman has told how she parted ways with a publicist after she suggested the actress should just “be happy” about being a black woman on a magazine cover
The 19-year-old shot to fame after starring in the Disney show Shake It Up. She has since emerged as a prominent campaigner on race issues and body positivity.
Despite only being in the industry for a few years, Coleman spoke wisely when discussing with Cosmopolitan what happened when someone she worked with was racially insensitive.
“I didn’t like my hair and makeup one time on a photo shoot, and my publicist told me, ‘You should just be happy with it - they haven’t had a black girl on the cover since forever’. She’s no longer my publicist,” the former Disney star said.
Coleman also spoke of her return to the Disney as a co-producer and star in the upcoming series K.C.Undercover, which she says was in part down to increasing diversity on the channel.
“The only way I was going to come back to the Disney Channel was if I was in a position of more power,” she said. “One thing that is really important to me is diversity on the channel. It’s hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is important.”
Coleman made headlines in 2015 when she stood up for herself after receiving critical comments over her dreadlocks at the Academy Awards.
Coleman called out the Fashion Police host Giuliana Ranic after she said Coleman’s hair looked like it “smells like patchouli oil […] and maybe weed”.
Coleman responded saying: “To say that an 18 year old young woman with locs must smell of patchouli oil or ‘weed’ is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive.” Ranic later apologised and denied her comments had anything to do with race.
In October, a magazine pulled images of Coleman after she claimed her “19 year old hips and torso” had been digitally manipulated.
