Child Star felt "pushed" by public speculation about his sexuality

Noah Schnapp was 11 years old when he was thrown like Will Byrs in Stranger Things.


With the release of his first season in the summer of 2016, Foreign things has become a cultural phenomenon, and its young stars were catapulted into renown overnight. Naturally, it was a lot for the actors to navigate, especially because several of them were between 11 and 14 years old when the show started. The youngest member of the main distribution of season 1 was Noah Schnapp , who was 11 years old when Foreign things Created and 10 when it was thrown.

While all Foreign things Children experienced celebrities and winning fans at the same time, Schnapp also started to face something that others were not: public speculation about his own sexuality, as well as that of his character, Will Byers. In fact, at the age of 12, the actor made a statement concerning the comments on Will possibly gay.

Several years later, not only has been confirmed, but Schnapp himself came out. In an interview Variety , the 18 -year -old actor thought about how his character helped him realize that He's gay , but he also opened how public speculation on his sexuality, especially when he was so young, had a harmful impact on his life. Continue reading to learn more.

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Schnapp addressed fans theories on the will after Foreign things Created.

Noah Schnapp at the premiere of
Featureflash photo agency / shutterstock

In the first season of Foreign things , There are comments on the will that some fans have interpreted as clues that he was not straight. These include his mother ( Winona Ryder ) saying that the children of the school teased him and called him "queer" and that his distant father had called him an anti-gay insult. At 12, Schnapp decided to treat speculation on Will's orientation on Instagram in an article that has since been deleted.

"I have been reading things for a while. I think everyone here is missing the point," he shared ( via Teenage vogue )) . “For me, being gay or not is apart from the point. Foreign things is a show on a bunch of children who are foreigners and who are because they have been intimidated in one way or another or are different ... I am only 12 years old but I know that We have all linked to being different. ""

He added: "A good book or a good show leaves a lot of unanswered questions but makes you think. This is what you are all doing." He ended his message: "I hope the real answer will never come out."

He explained what it was to read speculation about himself.

Noah Schnapp at the Netflix FYSEE Kick-Off Event in 2018
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock

Viewers were not only exchanged by theories on Will - Chnapp also began to read fans speculation about his own sexuality. When it started, he explained, he was not even sure of himself how he identified. Read the gossip did not help. "I think it made me keep it more deeply. Because it was somehow walking me and getting me out in such a public way," he said Variety .

Schnapp said that he now knew that those who are closest to him already knew that he was gay before accepting him fully. "It was right, I I didn't think it was a real thing, "he said." It was just the idea to be gay. I said to myself: "I'm straight". I just rejected this idea for so long. ""

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He confirmed what season 4 will deal with.

A still of cast members in 'Stranger Things' season 4
Netflix

Schnapp confirmed that his Foreign things The character is gay Before leaving publicly himself. In July 2022, he spoke to Variety About season 4 of the show, in which he becomes clearer than Will is in trouble with his sexuality and his feelings for his best friend. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Obviously, he was allowed to hear in season 1: it was always a bit there, but you never really knew, did he grow more slowly than his friends? Now that he has aged, They made it a very real and obvious thing, "said Schnapp." Now it is 100% clear that he is gay and that he loves Mike [ Finn Wolfhard ]. But before, it was a slow arch. I think it's well done, because it is so easy to make a character like all of a sudden gay. ""

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He went out in a tiktok six months later.

In January 2023, Schnapp was released publicly In a tiktok video . He was synchronized with one of the popular clips of the platform, marking the words: "You know what he was never? This seriousness. It was never so serious. Frankly, it will not be Never so serious. " On the video, he wrote: "When I finally said to my friends and family that I was gay after being afraid in the closet for 18 years and all they said was" it was " we know "." He also wrote in legend: "I suppose that I" I am more similar at will than I thought.

Schnapp said Variety That if he did not play, he would probably not be released himself. "I would be in a completely different place if I had no desire to portray, and to kiss and help myself to accept myself," he said. "I think that if I have never played this character, I would probably be closed."

Today, he feels very supported.

Noah Schnapp at a ceremonial lighting of the Empire State Building in May 2022
Radin / Shutterstock

Schnapp received a wave of support from fans, friends and family when he was released. And even before that, the answer he obtained to the sexuality of Will made explicit contributed to relieving some of his fears. "There was not a bad thing that he was gay. I was like, if he had all this support, so why should I worry about something?" Said Schnapp.

He also said Variety It could have an impact on the way he plays Will in the fifth and last season of the next season of Foreign things . "I think that the way I act in season 5, honestly, could be a little different. I will be fully aware of who I am. Knowing all this on me and being able to invest this in my character, I am honestly just just Excited, "said the actor.


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