The 18-year-old actor portraying gay character Will Byers on 'Stranger Things' has come clean about his sexual orientation in an emotional video he shares on TikTok.
- Jan 6, 2023
AceShowbiz - Noah Schnapp has finally come out of the closet. The "Stranger Things" star has come clean about his sexual orientation, announcing that he identifies himself as gay in an emotional video.
On Thursday, January 5, the 18-year-old actor turned to his TikTok page to share a clip of him telling the truth. In the footage, the young star lip-synced to an audio clip that could be heard saying, "You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious."
Over the video, Noah wrote, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was, 'We know.' " In the note accompanying the post, the "Hubie Halloween" star wrote, "I guess I'm more similar to Will than I thought," referring to his character Will Byers, who is gay, on the hit Netflix series.
Noah's confession elicited tons of praise in the comments section, with many fans writing things like, "i'm so proud of you! welcome <3," "so happy for you," "the scream i just let out," "slay," "we love you," "noah ur iconic" and "not you coming out for you and will."
"Can we all appreciate that noah just came out to the whole world and realize how much courage it takes to do that when youre a literal celebrity," read one particularly sweet remark. A few fans even expressed admiration for the Netflix star's announcement, with one writing, "One of these days I might have that courage." Other TikTok users claimed they also "knew it."
Viewers previously speculated that Noah's character Will was a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and the University of Pennsylvania freshman confirmed in July last year that Will is gay. When speaking to Variety, he said that Will has romantic feelings toward his best friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard).
"Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, 'Is it just him growing up slower than his friends?' Now that he's gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing," Noah told the outlet. "Now it's 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike."
