Noah Schnapp Revealed His Twin Sister Was “Ecstatic” When He Came Out As Gay Because She Would’ve “Hated” Having To “Compete” With Another Girl For His Attention

Noah Schnapp Revealed His Twin Sister Was “Ecstatic” When He Came Out As Gay Because She Would’ve “Hated” Having To “Compete” With Another Girl For His Attention,Noah, 18, said he thinks he’d “still be closeted” if it weren’t for his <i>Stranger Things</i> character Will being gay.

Noah Schnapp Revealed His Twin Sister Was “Ecstatic” When He Came Out As Gay Because She Would’ve “Hated” Having To “Compete” With Another Girl For His Attention

Back in January, actor Noah Schnapp came out as gay in a now-viral TikTok.

“Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed toward accepting it for myself,” he 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.”

Reflecting back a little further, Noah — who was 11 when Stranger Things first aired — recalled reading tons of comments speculating that he was gay before he’d even given the idea any thought.

“I think it made me hold it down deeper,” he said. “Because it was kind of being poked and prodded out of me in such a public way.”

“It was just, I didn’t think it was a real thing,” he went on. “It was just the idea of being gay. I was like, ‘I’m straight.’ I just rejected that idea for so long.”

When he finally came to terms with his sexuality, Noah recalled feeling uncomfortable when he went off to college and had a bunch of “new girls” hitting on him.

“All these new girls were starting to hit on me, and I was like, ‘I don’t like this. I don’t want this,’” he says. “I was like, ‘Holy shit. I know now.’”

Going on to recall how he came out to each of his nearest and dearest, Noah shared that his twin sister, Chloe, was first on his list of people to tell.

“She was ecstatic,” Noah said. “She said that she would’ve hated the idea of me marrying another girl and having to compete with that girl for my attention. The fact that now it’ll be a guy, she was like, ‘Oh, he’ll be my best friend.’”

And after telling his mom and sister, Noah went on to tell his dad and close friends — including his best friend and Stranger Things costar Millie Bobby Brown, who — like his mom — wasn’t surprised by his revelation.

“I just FaceTimed her one day in the middle of a Party City, and I was like, ‘Millie, I’m gay.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, Schnapper! You told me finally!’” Noah recalled.

However, Noah was still hesitant to “tell the world,” and wound up searching openly gay actors with his mom to “make sure” he’d be alright if he came out.

He shared, “I remember being in the car with my mom and looking up out actors, because we wanted to make sure that I’ll be OK if I’m out, and they were all successful, super happy people.”

“In the end, I decided that if I was only out to my close circle, I would still feel like I’m hiding something. The only way to truly feel myself is to tell everyone,” he added.

You can read Noah’s full Variety interview here.

Topics in this article

Noah Schnapp
Stranger Things

Leyla MohammedBuzzFeed Staff
Leyla Mohammed a is Celebrity Reporter for BuzzFeed UK and is based in London.
Contact Leyla Mohammed at [email protected].
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