Zendaya and Tom Holland’s Engagement Was a Long Time Coming

Like all the Spider-Men and MJs before them, Zendaya and Tom Holland fell for each other while starring opposite each other as the comic-book couple. While Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst didn’t work out, and Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone went their separate ways, Holland and Zendaya are in it for the long haul. The couple recently got engaged, marking a milestone in the relationship that may or may not go all the way back to Spider-Man: Homecoming. Here’s the complete timeline of their romance.

It all started with Lip Sync Battle

Nowadays, celebrities have to eat a lot of chicken to promote their movies. Back in 2017, they got into drag and went all out for lip-sync performances. There was lots of press around Spider-Man: Homecoming, but nothing was as big as Zendaya and Holland appearing on Lip Sync Battle. She dressed as Bruno Mars to perform “24K Magic,” and he … well, you probably remember what he did.

It was immediately obvious that these two had chemistry, and the movie hadn’t even come out yet.

The dating rumors began

In July 2017, shortly after Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, People reported that Zendaya and Holland were dating. “They started seeing each other while they were filming Spider-Man,” a source told the tabloid. “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.”

The pair were quick to shut down the rumor by laughing it off on Twitter. Remember when really famous people used to be on Twitter?

“Wait wait … my favorite is when it says we go on vacations together HA! I haven’t been on a vacation in years,” Zendaya wrote. Holland quote-tweeted her post, writing, “Does the press tour count?”

Zendaya doubled down

In August, Zendaya told Variety in no uncertain terms that there was no romance between her and Holland. “He’s a great dude. He’s literally one of my best friends. This past how many months we’ve had to do press tours together,” she said. “There’s very few people that will understand what that’s like at 20 years old.”

But the tabloids didn’t buy it

Despite Zendaya and Holland’s insistence that they were just the best of friends, the tabloids continued to report that they were a couple. In December, Us Weekly reported that the pair had been spotted celebrating the premiere of The Greatest Showman at a dinner with Zendaya’s parents in New York.

“Tom has met Zendaya’s family and they love him,” a source told the outlet. “They are still seeing each other, it’s been about a year.”

And then … nothing

The noise around these two died down to basically silence for literal years. Spider-Man: Far From Home came out in 2019, but any talk of a romantic relationship was now upheld mostly by stans. Maybe they really were just friends all along?

Zendaya started spending a lot of time with Jacob Elordi

In August of 2019, a few months after Spider-Man: Far From Home came out, a random guy shared an Instagram post from his Greece vacation with Zendaya in the background. Normally, this would just be kind of funny, and we would all move on. However, walking alongside her in the photo was her Euphoria co-star Jacob Elordi. Touring the ancient Greek ruins together? Ring the romance alarm!

A few months later, Elordi told GQ Australia that the pair weren’t dating, and, in fact, Zendaya was simply “super dope to work with” and “like my sister.”

In early 2020, however, the two spent a very lovey-dovey week together in New York. They were photographed together at the American Australian Arts Awards dinner (Elordi is Australian), he gave her a little kiss under some scaffolding, and they were spotted “cuddling up in their seats” at Broadway’s most romantic musical, Dear Evan Hansen.

Holland had a pandemic romance

While it seems that COVID put the kibosh on Zendaya and Elordi’s relationship, Holland took a different approach. In May of 2020, the Daily Mail reported that Holland was dating/quarantining with the actress Nadia Parkes. The two were reportedly locked down at his London home. A few months later, Holland posted a photo of Parkes on Instagram, fueling the romance rumors.

Tomdaya is official

In July 2021, Zendaya and Holland were photographed kissing in his car, and people went nuts. You have to remember that no one thought these two were dating when these photos came out. There had been years of speculation, but no proof.

Holland hard-launched their relationship

Now that everyone knew they were dating, Holland could share a very sweet photo of the couple for Zendaya’s birthday in September. “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays. Gimme a call when your up xxx,” he wrote. Zendaya showed up in the comments, writing, “Calling now ♥️”

They addressed the car-makeout photos

In November, Holland was on the cover of GQ to promote Spider-Man: No Way Home and was asked about the photos of him and Zendaya kissing in the car. “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,” Holland told the magazine.

Zendaya also gave her side of it, telling the magazine, “It was quite strange and weird and confusing and invasive. The equal sentiment [we both share] is just that when you really love and care about somebody, some moments or things, you wish were your own … I think loving someone is a sacred thing and a special thing and something that you want to deal with and go through and experience and enjoy amongst the two people that love each other.”

Zendaya shut down a couple of rumors

In June 2022, a rumor that Zendaya was pregnant began spreading on social media. First it was on TikTok, where it was obviously a prank, then it spread to Twitter, where “Zendaya pregnant” started trending. The rumor reached a point where Zendaya herself got on her Instagram Story to clear things up. “See now, this is why I stay off Twitter,” she wrote. “Just making stuff up for no reason … weekly.”

A year later, in 2023, Zendaya denied that they were engaged after she had posted a photo of herself wearing a big pearl ring. “I can’t post anything, you guys. I posted it for my hat,” she said, laughing in a video on her Instagram Story.

Zendaya complimented Holland’s rizz

While doing press for Dune: Part Two in February 2024, Zendaya was asked which of her co-stars had the most rizz. She said that all her castmates had their own rizz, and then brought up Holland unprompted.

“I think someone who has beautiful charisma — not on the Dune cast — but works for me is Mr. Tom Holland,” she said. “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. Like, you see him on talk shows and stuff like that; he’s just naturally very good at that.”

Zendaya spent 2024 supporting her man

When she wasn’t promoting two of the biggest movies of the year, that is. In May, Tom went back to the West End for the first time since he was a child to star in a gritty version of Romeo and Juliet. Zendaya was right by his side for opening night, but the real star of the show were Tom’s new little bangs.

In October, Holland launched a nonalcoholic beer and had Zendaya on his arm at the launch party. The coolest thing about this is that she was absolutely towering over him — a confident king.

They got engaged!

In January, Zendaya appeared at the Golden Globes with a massive diamond on her left ring finger. Immediately, people began to speculate that she and Holland had gotten engaged. The next day, TMZ reported that Holland had in fact proposed at some point between Christmas and New Year’s.

First comes romance rumors, then comes dating other people, then comes an engagement with a stunning east-west diamond!