While promotingSpider-Man: No Way Home— in which Holland and Zendaya star as Peter Parker and Mary Jane, respectively — at the Sirius XM Town Hall event on Friday, host Jessica Shaw mentioned an on-screen kiss between the two and noted that audiences have noticed that Zendaya is taller.
“Not that much taller,” Holland, 25, insisted. “Let’s put this out there. Maybe like an inch or two at best. It’s not like, people say like, ‘How did you guys kiss? It must have been so difficult.’ "
Holland added that “it’s a stupid assumption” that their height difference would be an issue.
“This is normal, too,” Zendaya, 25, added. “My mom is taller than my dad. My mom’s taller than everyone.”
Tom Holland and Zendaya.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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Holland explained that many of the actresses auditioning for the role of MJ were actually taller than him.
“I remember when we were doing theSpider-Manscreen tests… You’d have to ask [director] Jon Watts this question, but every girl that we tested for both roles was taller than me,” Holland shared. “I wonder whether that was a decision Jon had made. There was no one that tested that was shorter than I was.”
“To be fair, I am quite short,” he continued. “So maybe that was a decision Jon Watts made and something he was aware of and wanted to break the stereotype. I think it’s great.”
Of their on-screen kiss, Zendaya added, “It’s a nice sweet moment between them.”
Holland encouraged those watching to “be yourself, be who you are.” Costar Jacob Batalon, who plays Parker’s best friend Ned Leeds, added, “Don’t let society tell you what you can’t be.”
This isn’t the first time Holland and Zendaya talked about their height difference. Last week, the pair appeared onThe Graham Norton Showand told a hilarious story about how the inches between them created some issues while filming stunts for the upcoming film.
“There’s a particular stunt where Spider-Man swings us on top of a bridge, and he places me there,” Zendaya explained. “He’s supposed to gently rest MJ on the bridge and walk away from her. Because of our height difference… we were attached, so I would land before him. My feet obviously hit the ground before he does.”
Holland added, “She would land, and then I would sort of land like this, and then my feet would swing from underneath me, and she would catch me.”
“It’s so nice to be caught for a change,” he laughed.
A source previously told PEOPLE in July 2017 thatZendaya and Holland were romantically involved.
Last month, Holland opened up about his bond with Zendaya and his decisionto keep his personal life privateduring an interview withGQ.
“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 said.
He added, “I’ve always been really adamant to keep my private life private, because I share so much of my life with the world anyway. We sort of felt robbed of our privacy. I don’t think it’s about not being ready. It’s just that we didn’t want to.”
Spider-Man: No Way Homehits theaters on Dec. 17.
source: people.com
