Tom Holland and Zendaya have had a long-winded relationship journey; from denying couple accusations, Instagram hard-launches, a marriage announcement from their stylist, and much more. With that being said, let’s take a look at what their full timeline has been so far.
2016: Tom and Zendaya first met during the production of Spider-man: Homecoming. In this movie, they played lovers, Peter Parker and MJ, which led to some suspicion. At the time of filming and during their press tour, they both claimed that they were “just really good friends”. The public was not fully convinced, but they persisted. During any other interview they had, where the other was brought up, they would both emphasize just how great of a friend the other is.
During their press tour for their movie, Amy Pascal, the producer of Spider-man: Homecoming, gave Tom and Zendaya “a lecture” saying that they should not even try to date. “Don’t go there—just don’t. Try not to.” This might have been due to the fact that with previous Spider-man films, the two actors who played the love interests started dating in real life, both times! This being Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst who dated for one year, 2001-2002 and Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone for four years, 2011-2015.
2017: During this time, there was intel from an “insider” who claims that the superhero stars were indeed dating saying “They started seeing each other while they were filming Spider-Man,” and that “they’ve been super careful to keep it private and out of the public eye, but they’ve gone on vacations with each other and try and spend as much time as possible with one another.”
“We are friends… He’s a great dude. He’s literally one of my best friends.” – Zendaya
Variety 2017
But in an interview with Variety in August of 2017, Zendaya specifically stated that “We (Tom) are friends… He’s a great dude. He’s literally one of my best friends.” Denying any chance of romance, Tom did the same during his interviews stressing their status. “We are like the best of friends. She’s so great and amazing.”
These statements from the actors definitely lessened the talk surrounding their status, but it did not leave the public fully convinced.
2019: After many rumors, dating accusations, and another Spider-Man movie later, actors finally shared their first on-screen kiss in Spider-Man: Far From Home. This had fans making more speculations on whether these co-stars had ever kissed one another prior to being in front of the camera.
This year, Tom also made a pretty big mishap on an Instagram post that made fans speculate even more. In a photo of him, Zendaya, and their other co-star, Jacob Batalon, Tom tagged both of them in the post, but instead of putting Zendaya’s tag on her, he put it on his crotch area. They played it off with Zendaya commenting, “I’m assuming because you don’t know how to work ig, that’s the reasoning behind my name placement.” Though he has been known to not have very good internet skills, this is still a very specific and unfortunate mistake.
2021: Now this is when things start to get even more suspicious. During the filming of season two of Euphoria, where Zendaya is the lead, Tom states in an interview that he came to visit the set “at least 30 times”. This then spikes even more suspicion, but he claims it was only because he “wanted to be in Euphoria.” Maybe he does love the show and is curious about its creation, but visiting 30 times… now that seems excessive for it solely being for curiosity.
In July of this year, a surprising photo emerged of the pair at a stoplight in Los Angeles giving each other a kiss in a car. That same day, another source reported that the couple was spotted leaving Zendaya’s mother’s residence together. But nothing was ever said publicly from the two of them about their status, which still left fans puzzled.
After more months of speculation and intrigue, rumors were finally put to an end after one Instagram post was made by Tom for Zendaya’s birthday. On September 1st, he made a post of the two of them with the caption “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays,” he wrote, adding, “Give me a call when you’re up. XXX.” This was followed by a comment by the birthday girl herself saying “Calling now”.
2023: Since they became public about their relationship, this is a huge switch to go from being secretive to being the center of the public eye, so Tom and Zendaya try their best to keep their relationship personal and private. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tom states that “Our relationship is something that we are incredibly protective of and we want to keep as sacred as possible… we don’t think that we owe it to anyone, it’s our thing, and it has nothing to do with our careers.”
To make a relationship like this work the way both partners would like, it all has to do with balance. Zendaya states in an interview with Elle, that “it’s about protecting the peace and letting things be your own but also not being afraid to exist.” Sometimes being in the public eye can be fun and exciting, especially when it comes to being a couple, but there are so many aspects that fans do not necessarily need to see.
2025: As their relationship stays strong, during the Golden Globes Awards in January of 2025, Zendaya showed up with a hefty diamond ring on her left ring finger. This, of course, made the public theorize of a possible engagement. It was then revealed that Tom popped the question a couple weeks prior, making this the ring’s debut.
2026: As of now, it has been confirmed by Zendaya’s longtime stylist, Law Roach, that the couple has now been officially married. During the 2026 Actor Awards, Roach spoke with Access Hollywood where he told them “The wedding has already happened… you missed it.”
As these quotes started circling the internet, their co-star, Liza Colón-Zayas, from their upcoming movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, reposted a clip from Roach’s interview tagging Tom and Zendaya and adding a heart hands emoji.
After five official years of being public about their relationship, and ten years of facing accusations, they faced many challenges of being a couple in such a public light, but it’s safe to say that Tom Holland and Zendaya’s relationship is still going strong.