Noah Schnapp, 18, has come out as gay. He shared the news via a Jan. 5 TikTok that addressed the information in a fairly nonchalant way. “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 video of himself lying in bed and mouthing the words to a sound that says, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly would never be that serious.”
@noahschnapp I guess I’m more similar to will than I thought
“I guess I’m more similar to will than I thought,” he captioned the video, referencing his Stranger Things character, Will Byers. There were years of speculation that Will, who was introduced to fans in the premiere episode of the hit Netflix show in 2016, was interested in men. Noah confirmed that Will is gay in July of 2022.
“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?'” Noah explained in a revealing interview with Variety. “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.”
Noah went on to confirm that the heart-to-heart conversation Will had with his older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) in the Season 4 finale is when he officially revealed that he is gay. Jonathan offered Will a tight hug of support and acceptance in exchange. “Jonathan is talking to him in code,” Noah added. “It’s just the perfect way to tell someone like Will that he cares about him and he accepts him no matter what. I think it was really wholesome.”
Now that fans know Noah is not attracted to women, they can let the rumors that he’s in love with castmate Millie Bobby Brown fade away. The besties have confirmed that they are super close for years, but their relationship never turned romantic. Furthermore, the 18-year-old actress admitted her boyfriend of over a year, Jake Bongiovi, 20, even told her she and Noah are “in love” — but in a “platonic” way.
“Jake, by the way who is my boyfriend, when we first met, Jake was like, ‘You guys are in love,’” she gushed on a Nov. 2022 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. “But it’s in the most platonic way.”
Doubling down on Jake’s observation, she added, “We were always able to kind of connect with each other. And it’s so platonic, which is so beautiful.”