Tom Holland Went Viral For His Description Of Zendaya

As a couple that prizes their privacy, Tom Holland and Zendaya went public with their engagement without major fanfare. The two let a sparkling addition to Zendaya’s left ring finger do the talking when she arrived at the 2025 Golden Globes in January. It’s taken months for Holland to finally address their engagement publicly, so naturally, the video has gone viral.

Girlfriend vs. Fiancée

In footage that quickly racked up millions of views on social media, Holland can be seen participating in a recent panel. A person off-camera recalls an interaction with Zendaya, saying, “I brought my daughter, and she got to meet your girlfriend.” There, Holland laughs and jumps in with a sweet correction: “Fiancée,” he says.

Fans ate it up. That one simple word made dreams come true. “The 2017 tomdaya shipper in me used to pray for times like this,” one replied. Another enthusiast wrote, “They still got me giggling and kicking my feet.”

The moment seems to be Holland’s first public comment on his engagement, according to People. Unnamed sources had confirmed it to various publications shortly after Zendaya’s buzzy Golden Globes appearance, and one told TMZ that Holland had proposed to Zendaya between Christmas and New Year’s.

Holland’s father, Dominic, shared a few inside details on the proposal in a Jan. 10 Patreon post, including how “incredibly well prepared” his son was.

“He had purchased a ring,” Dominic wrote. “He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter. Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear.”

Tom And Zendaya’s Private Relationship

Holland and Zendaya were first the subject of dating rumors when they were cast in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming together. After years of insisting their relationship was platonic — and occasionally being linked to other people — they were photographed kissing in a car in Los Angeles in July 2021. Months later, in a November cover story for GQ, Holland said they felt “sort of robbed” of their privacy and hadn’t wanted to talk about their relationship publicly.

“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,” he said.

In the same cover story, Zendaya shared her take, saying, “I think loving someone is a sacred thing and a special thing and something that you want to deal with and go through and experience and enjoy amongst the two people that love each other.”

The two have continued to keep things as low-key as they can, including by limiting their joint red carpet appearances. But when someone describes Zendaya as Holland’s “girlfriend,” a correction is clearly in order.