'Stranger Things' star Noah Schnapp was hesitant to confront his sexuality

Noah Schnapp is grateful that his ‘Stranger Things’ character helped him come out as gay, as the actor, much like his character in the series, was unsure of how to tackle the subject.

In an interview with ‘Variety’, Schnapp opened up about how having his ‘Stranger Things’ character Will Byers embrace his sexuality in the series also allowed him to do the same. The 18-year-old actor kept putting off posting a video announcement he had shot on his phone.

His closest friends kept texting him: “When are you going to post it? I want to see the world’s reaction!” Schnapp kept replying: “No, I’m not ready.”

But on January 5, after his family dropped off his twin sister, Chloe, at college in Boston, he felt ready. As they started the hours-long drive back to their home in Westchester, NY, he posted the eight-second video to more than 31 million followers on ‘TikTok’. “When I finally told my friends and family that I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years, all they said was, ‘We know’.”

“Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself. I’d be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, to embrace and help me accept myself.”

Schnapp, the founder of TBH, a hazelnut spread, admitted, “I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.”

Though Schnapp initially was hesitant to confront his sexuality and address it with the world, publicly confirming that his character was gay helped shift his perspective.

“It kind of blew up in the press and everyone was like, ‘Oh, Will’s gay! Hooray!’. I saw all these comments on ‘Instagram’ and ‘TikTok’. There wasn’t one bad thing about him being gay. I was like, ‘If he has all this support, then why should I worry about anything?’”