Zendaya‘s cousin Michael took part on ABC’s Claim to Fame, a series where 12 houseguests have to try and conceal a famous person they are secretly related to. His true identity was unveiled, losing out on the $100K cash prize.
The Euphoria lead as ‘Rae’ didn’t have to physically take part in the show, which airs on Hulu, to make her presence known. Michael’s fellow houseguests knew that his relative has received an Emmy Award – just one of several clues.
That was until he became the second person to be eliminated from the Big Brother-esque reality show. So just what is the family bond between Zendaya and Michael, and what does he do for a living?
Zendaya’s cousin on Claim to Fame
Zendaya’s cousin Michael appeared on ABC’s Claim to Fame. He tried to deflect any guesses that they are related by stating that he has a crush on the Euphoria lead actress, but this only heightened his co-stars’ suspicions.
Another clue was when a spider was linked to the contestant, which of course, ties in with her appearance on Spiderman: No Way Home. However, upon being found out and sent home, he said he was “outplayed”.
He also made his own guesses about his fellow stars and made the first guess that Amari is Whoopi Goldberg’s granddaughter. Contestant LC had already guessed that Michael is Zendaya‘s cousin – and she was right!
In Episode 2 of Claim to Fame, Pepper was voted as the guesser —and she chose to expose Michael’s identity. She also correctly made the guess that he has a familial link to actress Zendaya.
Who is her relative Michael?
Michael isn’t actually Zendaya’s cousin’s real name but rather a fake name he used for the ABC show. His real name is Cubb Coleman, and he works as a Los Angeles-based music producer and engineer.
He works for Social Media Record, a full-service music production agency founded in 2019. Cubb also worked for Disney as a music producer for a month, producing the theme song in K.C Undercover season 3’s main title.
The star even worked as an intern for Atlantic Records, as per his LinkedIn page. After revealing his actual name, Cubb said about Zendaya following the elimination: “Hopefully, she’s not disappointed in me.”
Fans react to Michael’s link to Zendaya
Michael and Zendaya have been seen together in what appears to be a family photo online. The star also posted an image to Instagram, which has been shared on Pinterest, of Zendaya with another woman.
He captioned the post: ““Really love these 2 with all my heart because at the end of the day they have my back 100%!”
After finding out about Michael’s cousin link to Zendaya, many viewers were shocked. The majority had only just figured out who he was related to after he dropped a lie-based comment about ‘fancying’ the actress.
One viewer said: “L.C. guessed Zendaya is your cousin Michael and you deflecting like that just confirmed it for the group. I don’t know why she told everyone instead of keeping it to herself, like I would’ve #ClaimToFame.”
Another penned: “Don’t worry Michael, @Zendaya will always be so proud of you #claimtofame.”
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