Noah Schnapp makes heartbreaking sexuality admission after a journalist asked if he was gay at 12

Noah Schnapp has opened up after an experience with a journalist left him reeling.

The Stranger Things actor has been in the limelight since he was a pre-teen, and the questions he was asked as a child, could be inappropriate.

Schnapp, 21, opened up about his experiences in an interview with his co-stars, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo.

The Time interview was published yesterday (16 October) and dove into their lives and their hit Netflix series, which wrapped up its fifth and final season.

For Schnapp, he went on to reveal the interest surrounding his character’s sexuality, and then his own sexuality.

He explained the moment where he was asked if he was gay as a teen.

The actor shared: “When I was younger, I was obviously very scared of talking about it.

Noah Schnapp revealed the question he was asked as a child (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

“They would pry and ask me, ‘Is he gay? Are you gay?’ I was 12, 13.”

At this point, he sadly revealed that he just ‘didn’t know what to say.’

But once it became clear that his character, Will Byers, was having a storyline which would include him coming out as gay, the questions turned towards him once more.

After the season premiere in 2023, Schnapp came out as gay, and said it was all thanks to how people reacted to Will.

He said at the time: “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”

Schnapp spoke to Variety that year, telling people that Will allowed him to embrace his own sexuality.

"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 added.

He said his character helped him to come out (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

He explained Will’s sexuality was hinted at from the very beginning in season one, telling the outlet: "It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?

"Now it's 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc. I think it is done so beautifully, because it's so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay."

He added: "I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, 'Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. And I related to it so much. That is exactly who I was when I was a kid'. That just made me so happy to hear."

Schnapp also confirmed that Will is gay and 'loves' Mike, something that may be touched upon in the highly-anticipated upcoming final season, with the first instalment airing November 26.

"Knowing all of that about myself and being able to invest that in my character, I'm honestly just excited," Schnapp added of the direction his character is taking on the show.