Zendaya has five siblings — Katianna, Annabella, Kaylee, Austin and Julien — and several nieces and nephews.
Zendaya treasures her three older sisters, Katianna, Annabella and Kaylee, along with her two older brothers, Austin and Julien.
The star of Euphoria, Zendaya, grew up in Oakland, California, with her parents, Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman. Although Zendaya is Claire and Kazembe’s only child together, Kazembe has five older children from a previous relationship. The entire family shares a strong bond, and Zendaya is a doting aunt to her siblings’ children, frequently expressing her love for them.
Despite the age gap, Zendaya and her siblings have maintained a close connection. They prefer to keep their lives private, similar to Zendaya, yet she often openly expresses her adoration for her nieces and nephews.
At the London premiere of her film Challengers, where she portrays a former tennis star and mother, Zendaya mentioned drawing inspiration from her own family’s dynamics.
“I have many, many little nieces and nephews. So they’re like my borrowed children,” Zendaya shared.
Being an aunt also has its perks, she added with a smile, “I get to have fun and then give them back to their parents.”
Zendaya is the youngest of her five siblings
Zendaya is the youngest member of the Coleman family. She has three older sisters, Katianna, Annabella and Kaylee, and two older brothers, Austin and Julien.
Their dad is Zendaya’s manager
Kazembe welcomed Katianna, Annabella, Kaylee, Austin, and Julien during a previous marriage and shares Zendaya with his ex-wife Claire. Kazembe transitioned from being a teacher to managing Zendaya’s career and has been managing her for several years. In 2016, Zendaya joked that any potential suitors needed her dad’s approval first.
“My dad is going to vet any guy that even looks at me,” Zendaya said. “If I decide to have my dad around to make sure they are cool, they better go through dad first!”
Zendaya looks to her older sister for inspiration
In a 2015 interview with TIME, Zendaya praised her parents but emphasized that it was her older sister who significantly influenced her. “I look up to my big sister and realize the influence she’s had on me in making me a better person,” Zendaya shared. “Having such a big, grounded family, I realized as you get older how important that is.”
Zendaya has a close relationship with her nieces and nephews
Although her siblings maintain a low profile, Zendaya frequently talks about her close bond with her nieces and nephews. She shares a special connection with her niece, Ezenia “Zink,” whose father is Julien. They even participated in a “Besties Word Association” game while getting matching manicures for Teen Vogue in 2014.
In an interview with Complex, Zendaya mentioned her niece, “I think the closest person to me is my niece, who’s 20. She lives in L.A. with my sister, who’s out here with her two daughters and husband. So I escape to their house all the time. We just chill.”
Zendaya took her two younger nephews to the Los Angeles premiere of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 and one of her nieces to the 2017 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
Katianna, or “Kizzi,” is a mother of three. She and her husband have three daughters, whom Zendaya babysat often during her Disney days. In March 2017, Zendaya took Kizzi and her nieces on a special trip to Universal Studios to celebrate a birthday.
“Thank you @UniStudios for giving my little niece the best Harry Potter birthday ever! Wish I wasn’t sick so I could go, but I got major auntie points for this one,” she shared on Instagram.
Zendaya is very protective of her siblings’ children
When it comes to facing bullies and navigating social media, Zendaya wants to set a good example for her nieces and nephews. “Honestly, I think about my little nieces and nephews first,” she told Complex in 2015. “Because one day they’re going to have Twitter and Instagram, and I’m going to be like, ‘This is how you handle it, kids.’”
