Photo:Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty
Noah Schnappis grateful for hisStranger Thingscharacter’s role in helping him come out as gay.
In a newVarietyprofile, Schnapp opened up about how having hisStranger Thingscharacter Will Byers embrace his sexuality on the series eventually 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,” said Schnapp, 18. “I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself.”
The TBH founder then 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.
Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
In January, Schnappcame out as gayina TikTok videofeaturing the caption, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.” At the time, he also lip-synced to an audio clip that said, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”
Of that moment, Schnapp — who has sincereceived love and supportfrom his family, costars and fans — toldVarietythat he “would not want to have done it any other way.”
Since sharing his truth, Schnapp was able to celebrate his firstPride Monthin New York City. He shared a glimpse of his celebrations onInstagram, including photos of him rocking a rainbow-colored “Straight Out of the Closet” T-shirt.
“First pride❤️,” he captioned the post.
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Now, going into the upcoming fifth and final season ofStranger Things, Schnapp believes the way he acts “might be a little different” now that he is out.
“I will be fully aware of who I am,” he also explained toVariety. “Knowing all of that about myself and being able to invest that in my character, I’m honestly just excited.”
The first four seasons ofStranger Thingsare now streaming on Netflix.
source: people.com
