Zendaya's Aaliyah Biopic for Lifetime is now left in limbo after the American teen actress decided to bow out from the much-anticipated project for undisclosed reasons, Hollywood Life has learned.
Zendaya (nee Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman) is apparently "no longer involved" in Lifetime's TV movie that will serve as the late singer Aaliyah's biopic, the 17-year-old actress' rep confirmed this Sunday, just a couple of weeks after Lifetime formally announced her casting for the lead role. However, it was not revealed while the teen star has exited the big project.
Now a couple of sources - including Buzzfeed - are claiming that the main reason why Zendaya left Aaliyah's biopic project was because the family of the late singer has publicly expressed their disapproval of the TV movie, saying that it would be "too small" a tribute for the late artist.
Aaliyah's uncle and former manager Barry Hankerson even slammed the production of the biopic and even vowed to stop the project from getting realized.
After news broke that the teen singer has bowed out from the TV movie, Zendaya herself took to Twitter to pour out her thoughts.
"Aaliyah has always been a source of inspiration to Zendaya. She was honored to portray her and pay tribute to her..." she tweeted. She also shared that although she feels quite honored to be given the chance to portray Aaliyah, she now wants to "do it right."
Shortly after, Lifetime also took to its official Twitter account to confirm the sad news of Zendaya's Aaliyah biopic exit. "We are sad Zendaya will no longer portray Aaliyah. Production is currently on hold."
It can be noted that Zendaya's casting was welcomed with attacks from critics claiming that the teen celeb shouldn't play a black character.
"A lot of people say I'm not black enough," she said. "Half black is just enough. It doesn't matter what color you are, it's about how you portray the character. For those that don't know, Angela Bassett and Tina Turner, they look nothing alike but she was that character so I think that's what it's all about."
Finally, on Sunday, Zendaya opened up to MTV about her departure from the Lifetime project.
"I just felt the project wasn't 100 percent there. I feel [that] production wise everything just felt a little rushed," she said. "And I think because she's someone I admire and I love so much, it can't be done halfway, or not to the standards I think it should be done at, so I just decided not to do it."
