Tom Holland won over Zendaya with his carpentry skills: ‘Now we’re in love’

The ‘Spider-Man’ actor explained how his carpentry skills impressed his girlfriend Zendaya early on in their relationship

Meredith Clark
New York
Tuesday 27 June 2023 14:42 BST
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Tom Holland hints at how his and Zendaya’s relationship began

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Tom Holland has revealed how his handyman skills made girlfriend Zendaya fall “in love” with him.

In a recent interview with Unilad, the Spider-Man star shared how his little-known love for carpentry impressed the Euphoria actor and producer in the early days of their relationship. "Carpentry is something I just really enjoy,” he said in Unilad’s “Get A Job!” video series.

“I love it. I’ve made my mom’s kitchen table. I made my mom’s office. I’ve built all the cupboards in my bedroom. I built a little birdhouse for my grandad,” he explained, before revealing that he once used his handyman talents to fix Zendaya’s broken door.

“I fixed my girlfriend’s door once really early on in our relationship,” Holland continued. “I was hanging out at her house and her door was broken. I was like, ‘I’m gonna fix that door for you.’

He added: “And now, we’re in love.”

Holland also gave fans an inside glimpse into his relationship with Zendaya, whom he’s been dating since July 2021, when he dropped a major hint about how their romance began in a video for Buzzfeed Celeb shared last week.

In the clip, the British actor confessed that he has “no rizz” – a term used to describe a person’s ability to attract other people. “I have no rizz whatsoever, I have limited rizz. My brother Paddy has ultimate rizz,” Holland joked.

Instead, his way of flirting with people was rather straightforward. “I need you to fall in love with me, really, for it to work,” he explained. However, he was able to develop “rizz” by starring opposite his Spider-Man love interest, Zendaya.

Tom Holland reveals he won over Zendaya by fixing her broken door

“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,” he added. “That’s kind of where my rizz is at.”

Holland, 27, and Zendaya, 26, first met while playing Peter Parker and Michelle “MJ” Jones in the 2016 Marvel film Spider-Man: Homecoming. The two first sparked rumours that they were dating in 2017, but didn’t confirm their romance until July 2021, when Page Six published photos of them kissing in a car.

For Zendaya’s birthday in September 2021, Holland shared a sweet tribute to his girlfriend on Instagram. “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays,” he captioned the photo, which showed Holland in his Spider-Man costume as Zendaya snapped a mirror selfie. “Gimme a call when your up xxx”

The couple then made their red carpet debut in December that year, for the Hollywood premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

While Zendaya and Holland have kept many details about their relationship private over the years, apart from the occasional social media post, he did admit during his Buzzfeed Celeb interview: “I’m, you know, locked up, so I’m happy and in love.”

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