Tom Holland Explains One Reason You Never See Him Walking Red Carpets With Girlfriend Zendaya: ‘It’s Her Moment’

There is a very good reason you never seen Spider-Man star Tom Holland walking the red carpet with longtime girlfriend Zendaya. In a new cover story interview with Men’s Health the 28-year-old actor explained that for the same reason he can’t just drop in to see an afternoon matinee play without being swarmed by fans — or pulling attention from the actors on stage — he doesn’t want to distract from Z’s big day.

“Because it’s not my moment, it’s her moment, and if we go together, it’s about us,” he told the magazine about why he tends to skip most non-mandatory public events and attends Zendaya’s premieres, but doesn’t do the step-and-repeat with her.

Holland is re-emerging from a year-long break from acting and told the magazine that for the first time in nearly two decades he doesn’t have anything to promote (well, except for his new line of nonalcoholic beers, Bero). “It was just something I needed to do,” he said. “I had been acting flat out since I was 11.” The latter refers to his audition for Billy Elliot: The Musical in London, which was followed a few years later with a role in The Impossible with Naomi Watts, and then his first run at Spider-Man in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

In addition to the fourth Spider-Man film, he is also slated to join Matt Damon and Zendaya in the upcoming Christopher Nolan adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. The star who has gotten into killer shape for his Marvel films is notorious for his dedication and focus, as well as for his signature parlor trick: a backflip. But even as he hovers at the edge of 30, Holland said age feels like it’s starting to catch up to him.

While visiting Cornwall with Zendaya and his family recently a cousin asked him to bust out one of his flips. “So I went outside and I was getting ready, and I was thinking, I can do this. I can totally do this. I’ve done this thousands of times. And Z was there, and she was like, ‘Are you sure you can still do this?,’” he recalled. After assuring her he could, Holland said he bent down and landed a perfect one. Well, almost perfect. “I actually did land it, but I pulled every muscle in my stomach, because when you do a backflip, it’s all about extending up as much as you can and then tucking,” he said. “For weeks, I could not laugh because my stomach was so sore.”

The actor also revealed that his new go-to workout anthem is Linkin Park 2.0’s comeback single, “The Emptiness Machine,” his favorite movie is, no shame, Avatar, but said he will not share his patented euphemism for sex. “That’s my lady,” he said. “I’m not getting into that!”