'Heartstopper' Star Kit Connor 'Would Have Preferred' to Come Out in his Own Time – But He's Not Sorry

"Heartstopper" star Kit Connor says coming out as bi due to pressure from fans last year wasn't ideal, but according to The Wrap, the 19-year-old actor said, "I don't regret it.... it was really empowering."

Connor was speaking with British Vogue about the upcoming second season of Netflix's LGBTQ+-themed dramedy, which is based on the graphic novels by Alice Oseman.

"I just felt like it wasn't something I was ready to talk about," Connor told the magazine about the relentless social media attention he got when the show made him an international star overnight. The magazine recalled that fans accused Connor of queerbaiting.

"The online harassment intensified; Connor left Twitter," British Vogue recounted. "He planned to ignore the noise ('I don't think it's anyone else's business and I'm super young'), but returned in October [of 2022] with a tweet: 'I'm bi. Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye.'"

"I wasn't angry," Connor told the publication. "I was just slightly disappointed by this reaction."

The actor clarified his feelings around the online pressure he received and his eventual coming out, saying, "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."

And if he hadn't faced that pressure?

"I also don't know if I would have ever done it," Connor said of his public embrace of authenticity. "But at the end of the day I don't regret it. In many ways it was really empowering."

British Vogue noted that the young actor wasn't exactly completely unprepared for the hazards of fame, recalling that "the 'His Dark Materials' star had done his first red carpet interviews aged 10 and worked with Steven Spielberg" on the film "Ready Player One" when he was barely an adolescent. Even then, he was a veteran of the movie business, having starred in the film "Tom" when he was only 8.

"I think because I was working from quite a young age, it meant I matured a little bit faster than I would have," Connor reflected. "So that's helped a lot."

Still, the level of fame he achieved would have been a shock to anyone. "I don't think anyone's ever really prepared for it," Connor told the magazine. "Suddenly you feel like there are a lot more eyes on you."

In "Heartstopper," Connor plays Nick, a bisexual rugby star at the school he attends with classmate Charlie (Joe Locke), a gay youth with whom he falls in love. By the end of Season 1, Nick had come out – and Netflix had ordered two more seasons of the show, which was an instant global phenomenon.

And, even though Connor was subjected to inexcusable demands and quit Twitter in a fit of pique – "I'm a young man, so I'm already kind of going through certain things, in terms of just life and mental health," he told the magazine; "I just needed to let that energy out" – the pressures of fame came with an upside.

"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," British Vogue relayed.

"The idea that you're having an impact on anyone's life, especially a stranger, it's really special," Connor said.