Heartstopper’s Kit Connor shares wise words about coming out: ‘Be who you are’
"It’s not necessary to fit into these boxes that people are going to try to fit you into."
Heartstopper star Kit Connor has shared his advice for people who are under pressure to come out.
The young star, 19, is expertly placed to offer such advice given his own ordeal at the end of 2022.
Connor said he was “forced” off then-Twitter in September 2022 following accusations of ‘queerbaiting’ related to his Heartstopper role.
In November, he returned to confirm: “I’m bi.” He also added: “Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.”
“It’s not necessary to fit into these boxes that people are going to try to fit you into” – Kit Connor
In a recent interview with Jonathan Anderson for Interview Magazine, Connor, who has more recently clarified that he didn’t feel “forced” out but would have preferred “to do it another way,”, shared what he learned from the experience.
“There are certain things I want to keep private in my life. I’ve also learned that people are always going to have something to say. Even with me coming out, people will still have something to say—whether they believe me or not, whether they suddenly think, “Oh, now can he play straight roles?” But whatever they say, they’re going to say something.”
As for advice, Connor commented he’d met people in the last year in a similar position to him “where they’ve been in a show that’s blown up or something like that, and they’ve suddenly found themselves in this world where there are a lot of eyes on them.”
Noting that there’s “something really weird and just wrong” about people’s identities being so important to others Connor sagely advised that “it’s not necessary to fit into these boxes that people are going to try to fit you into.
“So I suppose I would tell anyone in a similar situation to just try to be who you are, and try to be aware of the fact that no matter who you are, someone’s going to be upset by it somehow.”
Some of the Heartstopper cast spoke to Attitude about being on set the day after Connor came out.
Tobie Donovan revealed “It was a tough day on set. We just really wanted to lift Kit up and give him all the love. We all gave him a big hug.”
He added: “We were definitely a tight family unit that day.”
Heartstopper is streaming now.