Heartstopper star Kit Connor recently told British Vogue that he still feels conflicted about the pressures he felt to come out publicly as bisexual last year.
Connor told Vogue that after feeling extremely pressured by the media and the fans to label his sexuality, he shared a tweet in October 2022 revealing that he identifies as bisexual.
“I think ‘forced’ isn’t the right word I would use, but I would say that I would have preferred to do it another way,” he explained. “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.”
“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,’” the actor shared.
Connor, who plays Nick Nelson on the hit series, faced growing scrutiny for not disclosing his sexual orientation right away. In reality, he had just turned 18 years old when Heartstopper premiered on Netflix and was likely still trying to figure himself out.
He also gushed to Vogue about how lucky he feels to be able to have such an impact on young queer teens.
“As an actor, you’re not always so lucky to be able to do a project you feel actually has an impact on people. I feel super lucky to have been able to do it,” he says. When the show first aired, fans would regularly stop him in the street, often young queer teenagers keen to tell him the show gave them the confidence to come out to their parents. “The idea that you’re having an impact on anyone’s life, especially a stranger, it’s really special.”
Heartstopper season two premieres August 3 on Netflix.