Tom Holland came close to not going through with his show-stopping ‘Umbrella’ lip-sync. (Getty Images/YouTube/Paramount Network)
The world may not have been gifted with a very, very wet Tom Holland if his father got his way, the Spider-Man: Far from Home star has revealed.
Chatting to British GQ, the 24-year-old April cover star opened up about his struggle to know who, well, “Tom Holland” is.
And according to the actor’s father, Dominic Holland, “Tom Holland” is not someone who steps onto a water-soaked stage in black latex shorts and a black bob wig to the tune of Rihanna’s 2007 classic, “Umbrella”.
Tom, of course, did it anyway, blessing the 77 million of us who watched him on Paramount Network’s Lip Sync Battle in 2017.
But Dominic before the performance begged Tom not to go through with it, worried it was too “risqué” and that it might impact his career trajectory.
Dominic, Tom said, urged him to call up his agents and the show producers and tell them he was dropping out.
Tom Holland says his ‘worried’ dad tried to prevent his showstopping ‘Umbrella’ performance
“My dad always taught me when I was younger and coming up in the business that you want to get famous as slowly as possible,” Tom recalled.
“You don’t want to get super famous tomorrow, because you won’t be able to handle it. It will ruin your life.
“I am very selective of who I talk to and what I do. I don’t ever want to overexpose myself, because my privacy is the last thing I own.
“I think that’s why he was so worried. And he’d tell me the same thing today I am sure: ‘Pace yourself, you’ve got a long career ahead of you’.
“I don’t want to lose myself to all… this.”
Thankfully, Tom Holland went ahead with the dragged up “Umbrella” number and ended up delighting viewers with his dance, which included fierce pyrotechnics.
“Look, I am really glad I did that show and I had a lot of fun,” Tom recalled.
“It was incredibly stressful. It has been incredibly successful and has been a really great thing for my career.”