Zendaya explains why she’s sitting out this year’s Met Gala

With the 2021 Met Gala just days away, Zendaya announced that she’ll be sitting out this year’s festivities.

Speaking to Extra from the Venice Film Festival, the 25-year-old fashion icon and actress revealed, “I will unfortunately not be able to attend [the Met Gala] because I’ll be working for Euphoria. I got my time off to come here and do this Venice experience, which has been really, really special.”

Noting that her “fans are going to be very upset with me” because she will not be going, Zendaya expressed, “I wish I could, especially since this fashion icon [Timothée Chalamet] is going to be hosting,” referring to her Dune co-star.

The upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home star has gained a reputation for being one of the best-dressed attendees at the Met, rocking looks such as a Joan of Arc-inspired Versace dress from 2018 and a Tommy Hilfiger illuminated Cinderella gown in 2019. Reflecting on the latter, she quipped, “That one almost took me out, let me tell you.”

Chalamet will be serving as co-chair of Monday night’s Met Gala, along with tennis star Naomi Osaka, singer Billie Eilish and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.

This year’s theme will highlight an exhibition of the same name, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which opens September 18 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center, exploring “a modern vocabulary of American fashion.” The 2021 event will also commemorate the Costume Institute’s 75th birthday.