“Heartstopper” star Kit Connor said he might not have ever come out as bisexual had fans not pressured him to last fall.
“I think ‘forced’ isn’t the right word I would use,” Connor said of his coming out process in an interview published Tuesday with British Vogue. “But I would say that I would have preferred to do it another way. I also don’t know if I would have ever done it. But at the end of the day I don’t regret it. In many ways it was really empowering.”
Connor’s remarks come over half a year after the star of the Netflix YA series shared his sexuality on social media after feeling pressure from fans who speculated about his sexuality. Many accused Connor of “queerbaiting” by playing a bisexual character on the show and attending Pride events during his time off.
“I’m bi. Congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself,” Connor wrote on Twitter in late October 2022. “I think some of you missed the point of the show.”
In “Heartstopper,” which was adapted from Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, Connor stars as Nick, a rugby player who begins to question his sexuality when he develops a close bond with Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), who is openly gay. By the end of the first installment of the series, Nick and Charlie have become more than friends.
Looking back on the October tweet, Connor said he “just needed to let that energy out,” as the critiques he faced from fans built up with others struggles he was dealing with.
“I’m a young man, so I’m already kind of going through certain things, in terms of just life and mental health,” he said. “I think there’s almost a feeling that because I’d been in the industry for a little while, there was almost this understanding that it’s like, ‘Oh, well, he can take it.’”
“Heartstopper” Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix and Season 2 premieres Aug. 3.
