Zendaya drops fresh wisdom on what it means to be “perfect”

I think we can officially declare 2015 as the Year of Zendaya. It seems we can never go too long without the singer popping up and doing something awesome. Whether it’s calling out Photoshopping or shutting down Internet bullies, Zendaya inspires us left and right, so it only seems appropriate that she had not just one, but two wax figures made of her for at the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in San Francisco. While at the debut of the figures, Zendaya spoke about what it was like seeing her body in wax, and how important it is that media depictions are realistic.

Luckily, Zendaya herself is super confident in her own body. “I know too many people in my family or who are really close to me who deal with [body consciousness],” she told Racked San Franciso. “It’s a real thing, and I’m thankful that it never was something that bothered me.” However, that doesn’t mean the issue doesn’t bother her when it comes to how she’s portrayed. In reference to the Modeliste Magazine Photoshopping scandal from back in the summer, she says:

She left us with a mic-drop about the idea of “perfection,” and why there’s not one universal thing we can do to achieve it. “Perfect isn’t a standard,” she states. “It’s something you create for yourself. You have to be perfect for yourself. You can’t live up to someone else’s standard, you have to live up to your own. In my eyes, I’m perfect. It’s not being cocky. It’s loving yourself; being confident.”

Praise emojis all around.

(Image by Beck Diefenbach/ Madame Tussauds Wax Museum SF)