Noah Schnapp Recalls How Journalists Would ‘Pry’ and Ask Him at 12 if He Was Gay: ‘I Was Obviously Very Scared of Talking About It’

Noah Schnapp is reflecting on navigating the invasive questions he was asked while promoting Stranger Things throughout the years.

Schnapp, 21, and his Stranger Things costars Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo spoke Time in an interview published Thursday, Oct. 16.

As they discussed the Netflix hit series, and what’s to come in its fifth and final season, they also spoke to the experience of growing up as child actors in the spotlight. Schnapp, specifically, reflected on how the press tours were challenging for him.

Schnapp recalled how he spent years struggling to answer journalists’ questions about his and his character Will Byers’ sexuality. “When I was younger, I was obviously very scared of talking about it,” he told Time. “They would pry and ask me, ‘Is he gay? Are you gay?’ I was 12, 13. I didn’t know what to say.” 

The questions about his character’s sexuality became more frequent as fans suspected that Schnapp’s character Will had feelings for his friend, Mike (Wolfhard). After Stranger Things season 4 dropped in the summer of 2022, his character officially came out as gay, spurring conversations about his character’s love life and, in turn, Schnapp’s love life. 

Months after season 4 premiered, in January 2023, Schnapp came out as gay. “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought,” he wrote at the time. 

After he came out, Schnapp spoke to Variety in August 2023 and opened up about how having Will embrace his sexuality on the series allowed him to do the same.

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

“I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted,” he said.

Schnapp added that seeing the outpouring of “support” for his character’s sexuality helped him not “worry about anything.” “It kind of blew up in the press, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, Will’s gay! Hooray!'” he recalled. “I saw all these comments on Instagram and TikTok. There was not one bad thing about him being gay. I was like, ‘If he has all this support, then why should I worry about anything?'”

He also shared that now he and Will have embraced their sexuality, his approach to the character “might be a little different.” “I will be fully aware of who I am,” he explained to Variety. “Knowing all of that about myself and being able to invest that in my character, I’m honestly just excited.”

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Seasons 1 through 4 of Stranger Things are now streaming on Netflix. Season 5 premieres with Volume 1 on Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. ET. Volume 2 will be released on Dec. 25, and the finale will be released on Dec. 31.