Gaten Matarazzo was just 13 years old when he shot to global fame in the Netflix series Stranger Things back in 2016, with his castmates including 11-year-old Noah Schnapp, 12-year-old Millie Bobby Brown, 13-year-old Finn Wolfhard, and 14-year-old Caleb McLaughlin.
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The group have grown up under the glare of the public eye, and the final season of the show hit our screens just last month, with all of the former child cast members now in their 20s.
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Over the years, there has been plenty of conversation about the sinister side of child stardom, with Millie undeniably bearing the brunt of the downsides of being a kid in the spotlight. Back in 2022, for example, she candidly reflected on being sexualized “forever.”
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In fact, shortly before her 18th birthday that same year, people were horrified to learn that “NSFW” countdowns to her becoming a legal adult were emerging online, and the photos that she posted to Instagram to mark her big day were also flooded with sexually explicit comments and lewd emojis.
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Speaking on the Guilty Feminist podcast at the time, Millie said: “It’s a very good representation of what’s going on in the world and how young girls are sexualized. I have been dealing with that — but I have also been dealing with that forever.”
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Then, just last month, a clip resurfaced of Finn looking uncomfortable after being told that he has “the greatest porn name ever” at a comic-con when he was just 14 years old.
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And now, Gaten discussing his own troubling experience of being a child star has also been unearthed on social media, with Gaten recalling the time that a woman in her 40s admitted to him that she’d had a crush on him since he was 13 years old.
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Speaking on an episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum back in 2024, Gaten was asked if he had any “funny stories about meeting fans,” to which the then-21-year-old actor replied: “‘Funny’s’ a way to say it, there are some that are a little uncomfortable.”
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“I did one very, very recently… This is not very funny, but the reactions around it were quite funny where this, like, woman in her 40s, she said straight up: ‘I’ve had a crush on you since you were 13,’” Gaten shared. “And I was like: ‘That’s upsetting,’ and I was like, I’m sure she just meant: ‘Awh, this kid’s cute,’ but then she doubled down. Like: ‘I’m aware of the age difference,’ then I was like: ‘…Alright.’”
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“Her daughter was with her,” he went on. “And her daughter goes: ‘Mom, what the fuck?!’ I swear to god, this girl must have been about 13.” When asked if the daughter’s response made him laugh in the moment, Gaten said that he purposefully held back his laughter, adding: “I couldn’t; I was like: ‘Thank you guys for coming!’ My mom was right there, my mother was sitting next to me. That was insane.”
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The star also revealed that he regularly has fans grab his butt while posing for photos at conventions.
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Needless to say, many were left horrified by this anecdote when Gaten’s quotes resurfaced on X this past weekend, with one tweet reading: “I wouldn’t wish being a child actor on my worst enemy bro like deadass.”
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Somebody else wrote: “these actors deserve reparations for this shit,” while another joked: “Child actors deserve to kill atleast one person daily.”
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