Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s not a moral tale - Zendaya defends ‘Euphoria’
THE 25-year-old actress Zendaya Coleman has spoken out to defend her show, after anti-drug education group D.A.R.E. slammed the programme for “glorifying” substance abuse and “misguidedly and erroneously” depicting high school drug use.
Zendaya insisted the show has set out to reassure viewers they are not “alone” in their struggles, but the show never encouraged the audience to live their lives in a particular way.
She told Entertainment Weekly: “Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing. If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria, or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a bit less alone in their experience and pain. And maybe feel they’re not the only people going through or dealing with what they’re dealing with.”
Season 2 of the HBO series, currently streaming on Showmax, culminates in an intervention for Zendaya’s character Rue, which the actress called the “light at the end of the tunnel”, and she hopes her alter ego’s experiences allow viewers to gain “a little bit more understanding and be empathetic towards the experience of addiction.”
She added: “My biggest hope is that people are able to connect to it and those who need to heal and grow with Rue, hopefully, by the end of this season, feel that hope and feel that change in her.”
While working on the show, Zendaya has heard from a lot of viewers who see “parallels” from their own lives and she admitted their messages mean a lot to her.
She said: “I’ve had a lot of people reach out and find so many parallels, from all ages, all walks of life. So many parallels with Rue and her story, and Rue means a lot to them in a way that I can understand.”
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