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# Essence's Cover Subjects are Tessa, Nnamdi, and Zendaya
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/essences-cover-subjects-are-tessa-nnamdi-and-zendaya-12-2020/
- Published: 2020-12-16T15:00:31.000Z
- Updated: 2020-12-16T04:13:18.000Z
- Description: For November/December and digital.
- Author: Heather
- Tags: Fug The Cover, Essence, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-07 08:15

Nnamdi Asomugha very rarely rears his head. He's an ex-NFL player and he's married to Kerry Washington, but he generally stays away from the spotlight -- so I was really surprised to see him on this cover, and even more surprised when I found out it's because he is in a movie. I had no idea he was pursuing acting, much less producing, which he's also doing here. It's nice when 2020 serves up *pleasant* plot twists.

The movie is *Sylvie's Love*, a glam 1960s Hollywood romance that is set amid an era of civil unrest, but [per the story](https://www.essence.com/feature/tessa-thompson-and-nnamdi-asomugha-get-romantic-in-sylvies-love/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) it intentionally doesn't define itself by that:

> *“Even Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. still had a bunch of babies and fell in love,” Ashe says, explaining why he decided to focus on capturing life-changing love in his period drama. “It’s really important to show that we existed in the past \[beyond\] the ‘struggle culture’—that Black folks were still falling in love. I think not showing that is a way of erasing us.”* 
>  
> *Tessa Thompson wholeheartedly agrees, and she reflects that the timing for Sylvie’s Love couldn’t be sweeter. “At a time when we’re talking about the value and dignity of Black life…it’s really great to have a \[love\] story that offers some escapism for audiences, and that feels sweeping and beautiful and hopeful about love. We really need those kinds of narratives.”*

Tessa looks dreamy, but I wish the cover felt a bit more luxe and lush. It's so start as to be a bit chilly, and it's downright polar compared with the November/January issue's non-digital cover star:

Zendaya posed for a series of photos evoking Donyale Luna, widely considered the first Black supermodel, and who led quite a life before her tragic death of a heroin overdose at age 33\. She was one of the first to have a walk that truly made her famous -- there's a whole section on her Wikipedia page about how she brought the movement of a dancer to the catwalk -- and was the first Black model to appear on any edition of *Vogue*, in addition to being a muse for Salvador Dali. (High camp was also part of her image; I want to look back at [the camp Met Gala](https://www.gofugyourself.com/tag/2019-met-ball?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) to see if anyone evoked her there, but I don't THINK they did?) Law has a bunch of the pictures up on his Instagram that show both the original photo and Zendaya's interpretation, like [this great lounging shot](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvDFaGjbC9/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io), and [this close-up](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvGIjuDGzt/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io), [this stunner](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvIv88D9hG/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io), and [one in endless gladiator sandals](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHvvOj8jHms/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io). What a great way of exposing a whole new generation to Donyale Luna's life and legacy, and the cover itself is amazing. Zendaya looks twelve feet tall.

###### \[Digital cover: J.D. Barnes for Essence; Zendaya cover by AB+DM\]