Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp comes out as gay in TikTok video

Noah Schnapp of Stranger Things fame came out as gay on social media on Thursday afternoon.

The 18-year-old actor shared the news in a TikTok clip where he wore a gray hoodie while laying on a white pillow.

‘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,’ he wrote over the video.

He also said in the video: ‘I guess I’m more similar to Will Byers than I thought!’ 

In the video he is mouthing a woman’s voice as she says, ‘You know it never was that serious, it was never that serious, quite frankly we will never be that serious.’

His real life seems to be mimicking his reel life. 

Back in July, Noah confirmed that his Stranger Things character Will Byers is gay and in love with his best friend Mike Wheeler, admitting he was previously careful in discussing the topic to avoid spoilers. 

In a recent interview the actor opened up about growing up alongside his onscreen persona and the importance of his sexuality’s ‘slow arc’.

Speaking to Variety, the breakout star said: ‘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.

‘Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc.’

Noah explained that not having Will ‘all of the sudden be gay’ was done ‘beautifully’, adding it was important to see the paced portrayal be important to viewers who saw their pasts reflected in his character.

‘They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well,’ he said. 

Noah also told the outlet that he did feel it would be a spoiler to confirm Will’s journey with discovering his sexuality. 

‘I think it has been tricky. Years ago in Season 1, I didn’t know where the Duffers wanted to go with this character. So I was kind of figuring it out along with the audience,’ he said. ‘But now that I’ve spoken to them and seen the show, I know what they want to do with it.’

Noah added that Will’s ‘multifaceted trauma’ has been challenging in his growth as an actor, because the role he plays is affected by some many different things. 

He told Variety: ‘…I really have to take into account, like, this isn’t just a single layer thing of he’s struggling with coming out…he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends, they never acknowledged him, and now he’s scared to come out and doesn’t know if they’ll accept him.’

Soon after posting his coming out TikTok, the screen star was flooded with supportive messages from fans on social media.

‘so proud of Noah Schnapp,’ wrote one Twitter user, who included a Stranger Things season four clip that showed his character Mike having a heart-to-heart with his brother Jonathan (played by Charlie Heaton).

‘just saw noah schnapp’s tiktok aw welcome babe,’ penned another fan alongside a five-second clip of Kate Winslet clapping.

One Twitter user wrote that they are ‘SO happy’ to know ‘that a gay person is playing a canon gay character in one of the biggest tv shows in the world.’

Musical artist Lance Bass, 43, who made national headlines when he came out in 2006, posted a supportive message for the actor on TikTok. 

‘Welcome to the fam!’ the NSYNC singer said. ‘Your welcome basket is in the mail.’

Schnapp was just 11-years-old when he landed the role of Will Byers in Netflix’s hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things.

It premiered its very first season in 2017 and season five is currently in pre-production. Season four – which was divided into two parts – was released this past summer, with the first half’s premiere becoming the biggest streaming week of all time.

The series also stars Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, David Harbour, Natalia Dyer, Winona Ryder, Charlie Heaton and Maya Hawke.

Schnapp and Brown are best friends offscreen. Fans have shipped the pair over the years, but both Schnapp and Brown have shut down dating rumors.

Brown recently gave insight into their tight bond during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in November. 

The English actress – who is dating Jon Bon Jovi’s model son Jake Bongiovi – told the host that her beau immediately noticed the ‘love’ between her and Schnapp.

‘Jake, by the way who is my boyfriend, when we first met, Jake was like, “You guys are in love,”‘ she recalled. ‘But it’s in the most platonic way.’  

Brown further explained that she and Schnapp ‘were always able to kind of connect with each other’ and that ‘it’s so platonic, which is so beautiful.’

Earlier this year, Brown and Schnapp revealed during a joint interview with MTV News that they agreed to marry one another if they’re still single by age 40.

‘We said if we’re not married by 40, we’ll get married together,’ Brown explained to the camera, adding that it would totally work out because they’d be ‘good roomies.’

‘No kids, though, cause I could not deal with a child of yours,’ the actress teased, with Schnapp replying in total agreement.

Schnapp recently started his freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania.

In December 2021, the actor shared with fans that he’d been accepted to the university in a video uploaded to social media.

It showed him opening an email from the University of Pennsylvania as his family waited around him in anticipation. They eventually burst into celebratory screams as they learned he’d been accepted.

Over the summer, Schnapp worked as a lifeguard part-time which was ‘kind of a ‘just for fun thing” for the A-list star.

He told Flaunt: ‘I’ve kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and stuff outside of Stranger Things, so it’s kind of kept me grounded.’