If you look closely at a patch of skin on Zendaya’s ribcage, you’ll spy a tiny, discreet “T” tattooed in black ink. Her longtime partner, Tom Holland, has a similarly easy-to-miss “Z” tattoo tucked beneath his left arm.
The permanent tributes to each other’s initials go unseen at most events and red carpets, peeking out only in select moments — an almost too-perfect metaphor for Zendaya and Holland’s public-facing relationship.
Although Zendaya and Holland went Instagram-official in 2021, the exact timeline of their relationship is unknown. While many fans speculate the “Spider-Man” costars actually began dating years earlier, the couple’s prudent navigation of fame and their respective careers means there’s been precious little material to go on.
Outside their promotional duties as Peter Parker and his love interest, MJ, in the MCU film franchise — their latest movie, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” earned the biggest domestic box office debut in history — the actors rarely broadcast their relationship, on social media or otherwise. They have never walked a non-Marvel-related red carpet together, and fans can count on one hand how often they’ve kissed in sight of photographers.
Even when news broke last year that Zendaya and Holland were engaged, there was no official announcement from the couple, let alone a collection of Instagram-friendly floral proposal photos. Zendaya simply began wearing a diamond on her left-hand ring finger. The media rollout for their marriage was equally nonexistent, with Zendaya’s stylist, Law Roach, spilling the beans. Holland then confirmed the news to Esquire, gingerly and succinctly. When and where did they tie the knot? Who was invited? What did Zendaya wear? With this anti-PR power couple, we may never know (though AI-generated photos of the wedding went viral).
And yet, the lack of intimate details doesn’t cause fans to doubt that Zendaya and Holland are in love, or to cry “PR relationship.” In fact, the effect has been quite the opposite. With only subtle signs of their affection for each other displayed in public, their relationship feels effortless.
“It’s the way they hold hands. It’s the way they look at each other,” Mike Fahey, the founder and CEO of the PR agency Fahey Communications, told Business Insider, adding, “None of that is rehearsed.”
“The fans, the people at home, that’s what they relate to — that type of love,” he continued.
Indeed, the positive reaction to Zendaya and Holland’s top-secret wedding shows how careful breadcrumbing has endeared fans to the couple’s love story, even as they keep the meat and potatoes protected.
“It wasn’t a spectacle at Madison Square Garden,” Fahey said of the couple’s nuptials. “It’s like their love is their love and they show it outwardly in very subtle but beautiful ways.”
Of course, a certain level of secrecy can actually incite even more demand for attention. But with Zendaya and Holland, it’s not that fans have nothing to fawn over — it’s that the couple is giving just enough to signal there is a deeper, genuine relationship happening between them in private.
They exchange adoring glances, but they don’t pack on the PDA. They speak highly of each other in interviews, though often as a “best friend,” not a husband or wife. They don’t dismiss the topic of their relationship outright when asked about it, but they don’t invite additional questions.
Fahey called it “a masterclass in only giving people as much as they need.”
“Little gestures go so far, and I think that’s what social media has picked up on. You can really see their bond,” Fahey said. “We’re looking at a couple here that has insane upward momentum and could really do whatever they want from here.”
The less-lucrative road less traveled
It’s easy to juxtapose Zendaya and Holland’s privacy-first approach with the strategy employed by another power couple of the moment: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
When Swift and Kelce went public with their relationship, they immediately began merging their businesses and leveraging each other’s fanbases to significant commercial gain (if not for Swift, then definitely for Kelce).
“Just look at Travis’ deal with his podcast. Not to say the Kelce name wasn’t strong before, but $100 million for a podcast wasn’t happening before Taylor Swift,” Fahey said.
By contrast, Zendaya and Holland have largely nurtured their careers as individuals. While they share the screen in the “Spider-Man” movies and cheer each other on from the sidelines, they’ve declined to leverage “Tomdaya” as an offscreen venture: there have been no joint brand deals, no shared magazine covers in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, Zendaya recently posed for the cover of Interview with her “The Drama” costar, Robert Pattinson. The work remains the focus.
“Tom and Zendaya could do whatever they wanted, and anything they touched would turn to platinum, not just gold. But instead, they’re choosing to do things in a quiet, deliberate way,” Fahey said. “They’re probably leaving tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on the table by protecting their relationship and protecting their privacy.”
Juliana Martins, celebrity publicist and founder of Eleven11 Media Relations, agreed that while it would be naive to assume that Zendaya and Holland “lack PR strategy,” their particular strategy seems to deprioritize profit.
“I don’t think money is top of mind for them. They’re definitely not monetizing their relationship, but both of them are so successful on their own accord,” Martins said. “I truly do think that they’re comfortable with their income solely focused around their projects, individual endorsements, and brand deals, and that what they prioritize most with their relationship is keeping it sacred.”
Leaving money on the table? In show business? It’s rare, but not unheard of. And it has other benefits.
Both Fahey and Martins, who have years of PR experience spotting stunts and manufactured narratives, cited Zendaya and Holland as one of their favorite celebrity couples. To describe their relationship, they each used words like “organic,” “genuine,” “solid,” and “chic.” Money can’t buy that kind of reputation.
“If they wanted to make a lot of money, they would be, because they would turn this into a PR factory,” Fahey said. “It’s almost like two roads diverged in the woods. They’re choosing the path less traveled, and it is making all of the difference for their relationship and their image.”
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