Tom Holland has come a long way since he was first cast as Spider-Man in 2015, and he thanks his co-star Zendaya for helping him to stay sane on the journey to stardom.
With just a month to go until the release of the MCU's Spider-Man: No Way Home, the actor has opened up about his career in an interview with GQ.
Speaking about what it was like as a young actor, Holland said: "The ages between 15 and 21 are when you figure out who you're going to be.
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"When everyone's telling you that you're the best thing in the world, you can grow up and believe that."
The 25-year-old thanks Zendaya, who plays MJ in the superhero film franchise, for keeping him on track and helping him to navigate fame.
"Having her in my life was so instrumental to my sanity," he said. "She is so good at being the role model for young guys and girls.
"When anyone comes up, like, 'Can I have a picture?' it's never a bad time. Whereas my initial reaction was: 'Why are you talking to me? Leave me alone.'"
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Going on to speak about the tabloid pictures of he and Zendaya kissing which went viral back in July, Holland said: "We sort of felt robbed of our privacy.
"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."
Tom and Zendaya both appear in the upcoming No Way Home, which Holland described as 'the most ambitious stand-alone superhero movie ever made'. And we have reason to believe him if the trailer is anything to go by.
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A lot of talk on the film has centred around just how deep into the multiverse the movie will go after it was revealed the upcoming sequel will bring back Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Rhys Ifans' Lizard and Thomas Haden Church's Sandman.
It's yet to be officially confirmed if previous Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will star in the movie following intense fan speculation.
Whatever the case, in a separate interview Holland was keen to stress that No Way Home will have a much darker tone than previous iterations of the franchise
Speaking to Total Film, he said: "What people will be really surprised about is that it's not fun, this film, it's dark and it's sad, and it's going to be really affecting.
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"You're going to see characters that you love go through things that you would never wish for them to go through.
"And I was just really excited to kind of lean into that side of Peter Parker."
Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released in the UK on 15 December and in the US on 17 December.
Words: Daisy Phillipson
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/MarvelTopics: Tom Holland, Spider Man, Zendaya, Marvel