Finn Wolfhard has had quite a year. After a few appearances in independent films and minor roles in TV shows, he landed the role of a lifetime as a key character in Netflix's Stranger Things, a series that in just one season built a fanbase nearly as dedicated and obsessed as those that have been watching Game of Thrones for seven seasons. Then, this year, he starred as Richie in 'It', the hit horror movie which broke box office records all over the globe. And just last week the second season of Stranger Things was released for fans to binge-watch over the weekend, and he's set to become an even bigger star in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, that attention doesn't always produce the most wholesome of responses, as this ill-advised joke from Ali Michael showed. Michael, an American fashion model, made a joke about the 14-year-old actor and his character Mike from Stranger Things, and many people were quick to point out it was misjudged. On her Instagram story, the 27-year-old model posted a photo of the 14-year-old actor, along with the caption: "not to be weird but hit me up in four years". In no time at all the image was screenshotted and posted onto Twitter, where fans pointed out how weird it is that she would make this joke considering his age. While some believed that the joke shouldn't be taken so seriously, others pointed out how we might see it differently if the genders were reversed. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/tomothyholland/status/924981602685476865]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/OurLadyOfDead/status/925162133679149056]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/donte5O2/status/925029709162917889]] Michael apologised for her comments soon after, admitting she knows why people were offended by what she said. "It was completely absolutely a joke but I understand that people have been offended by it," she wrote on her Instagram story, "It was wrong to joke about and I apologise. I do not want Mike from Stranger Things to call me. I hope this clears things up". Given that this apology is closer to the dreaded "I'm sorry you think I did something wrong" than a true apology, she made a full statement to Teen Vogue with a lengthier explanation: "The general nature of my social media platforms is often one of humor, sarcasm and playful self-deprecation. I often quote, post and publicly respond to music videos, films, documentaries and television shows in a frank and candid manner. "The nature of my posts in response to television and media are always tongue-in-cheek and never intended to mislead or upset anyone." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BatgWh1ndrt/]] "In the past, I have asked fictitious characters of films to call me (namely Edward Scissorhands and Simba from the Lion King). In this instance, it has become clear to me that asking a character 'to call in four years' and inappropriately tagging the underage actor who plays the character (Mike) was upsetting, suggestive and concerning for my audience. "It was never my intention (nor has it ever been) to sexualise a minor in any way shape or form. To those I offended or misled, I apologise for a post made in haste and lacking in sensitivity, particularly considering the landscape of the present culture." She does point out that tagging the actor in the post is likely the most inappropriate thing about it, but the longer you look at the original image, the more you'll find yourself asking why exactly she thought it would go down well in the first place.

Everybody wants to be a celebrity - the money, the fame, being admired for your work. But one part wouldn't be so fun: whenever you're out in public, fans will come up to you, and expect you to stop and chat. Most of the time, that's no big deal. You have a free minute to take a picture. But what if you're busy, or tired, or in a bad mood, or on your way somewhere? Sometimes you want to be left alone. But if you don't give your fans everything they want, they'll get mad, slam you online, and call you a jerk. That's what happened to 14-year-old "Strangers Things" star Finn Wolfhard. A group of excited fans waited for him outside his hotel. They were hoping to meet the young actor, get an autograph, take a picture, have a slumber party, be friends forever. But when Finn showed up, he just said "hi" and kept walking. One of the fans snapped, "That's rude," then complained about it on Twitter, calling Finn "heartless." Wow - entitled much? Luckily, a celebrity from another hit show has got Finn's back: Sophie Turner, aka Sansa Stark herself, from Game of Thrones. Over the past seven seasons, we've watched Sansa grow up, transforming from a quiet, naive young girl into a shrewd, strong young woman. Sophie's grown up as well. When she first auditioned for Game of Thrones, she was 12 years old. Now she's 21. She knows all about what it's like to live in the spotlight and deal with fans overstepping their boundaries. In an epic Twitter rant, Sophie leapt to Finn's defense: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927652819083153410]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927653200337006592]] "Damn... seeing fully grown adults wait outside the ‘Stranger Things’ kids’ hotels etc , and then abuse them when they don’t stop for them is super weird. A. What adult in their right mind waits for a CHILD outside their hotel and B is then is offended when the CHILD doesn’t stop." Stalking celebrities is creepy enough, but stalking a 14-year-old celebrity? That's a whole new level. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927653919773294604]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927653996256473093]] "It doesn’t matter if they are an actor... they are kids first. Give them the space they need in order to grow without feeling like they owe anyone anything for living their childhood dreams." Sophie went on to break down what it feels like to be in Finn's situation, and what celebrities don't owe their fans. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927683790541074433]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927684096570085376]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927684233543512064]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927684641494126592]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927684899557052417]] "Oh and ps. Imagine.. you, a parent, walking with your 13 year old son/daughter and seeing a fully grown adult pointing their camera phone at your kid. You would do anything you could to delete that persons photograph, and remove your child from that situation as soon as you could. It doesn’t matter if that child happens to be an actor and consented to a professional film crew capturing their moves when in character.. That does NOT mean that this child consented to being followed around with a camera in their face. I don’t care if it “comes with the job”. It doesn’t." Hey, celebrities are people too. You can watch their shows whenever you want, but you can't make them do whatever you want. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927685259751288832]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieT/status/927685829136408577]] "And how dare you shun and demean that child when they don’t pose for an adult strangers photograph or walk over and talk to them when they take that NOT CONSENTED FOR photo. Doesn’t that go against everything we teach our children anyway? Pshhhh. Some people man." Rumor has it that both Arya Stark and the demogorgon have "dealt with" the angry fan. He won't be bothering Finn, or anyone else, ever again. Great news!

Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard was involved in a spot of controversy last week when a 27-year-old model made suggestive comments about the underage actor. The 14-year-old who plays Mike in the series caught the attention of 27-year-old American fashion model, Ali Michael. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BaHCHl6HaGI/?taken-by=ali_michael]] Michael shared a picture of Wolfhard on her Instagram story to her 245 thousand followers, saying “Not to be weird but hit me up in 4 years @finnwoldhardofficial.” The post caused an outrage of backlash, with people criticising her for sexualising the 14-year-old and it making headlines. It comes at a particularly turbulent time in Hollywood in regards to sexual assault, something that Wolfhard has already been confronted with when choosing to quit his talent agency after sexual assault claims were made against his agent. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/tomothyholland/status/924981602685476865]] Michael since released an apology, saying "The nature of my posts in response to television and media are always tongue-in-cheek and never intended to mislead or upset anyone." The model said that she's previously made posts asking fictitious characters from film to "call her", specifically naming Edward Scissorhands and The Lion King's Simba. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYNu3XjnKZd/?taken-by=ali_michael]] And now, Wolfhard has spoken out about the incident for the first time. He was approached by TMZ while at the airport who berated the young star about the model 14 years his senior and her lewd social media post. “Oh, that was nuts,” he said. “That was gross.” Looking around himself, the 14-year-old clearly was uncomfortable talking about the incident. He went on: “That’s good that she apologised. It’s weird, but…” When the reporter urged him on to confirm that he thought it was "weird", he said: “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. It’s fine.” [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/ST_Posts/status/927420566709112833]] Neither Wolfhard nor his representatives made a statement about the incident last week, so this impromptu interview comes as the actor's first official response. His comments have sparked new conversations about the story, and people took to Twitter to vent their anger about people sexualising teenagers. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/finnwfIhard/status/927138985763266560]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/twodrinkamy/status/927161772875927552]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/isaberrington/status/927137551479164929]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/lunar_solstice/status/927248438344876032]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/WORLDOFMAGlC/status/927166789292830720]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/lightwoodIouis/status/927188302360399872]] People also attacked TMZ for pouncing on the actor while at the airport and probing him for comments on the situation. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/udontwantmyname/status/927700011072327681]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/rudeyhuxtable/status/927193745233235968]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/caitlincornerxx/status/927632161452290048]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/uncommittedfan/status/927277418825560064]]

Millie Bobby Brown didn't hold back when asked how good a kisser her Stranger Things costar Finn Wolfhard is.

The 18-year-old starlet took part in a lie detector test for Vanity Fair and managed to inadvertently throw her former cast mate under the bus.

“You exclaimed, ‘Kissing sucks!’ after your first kiss with Finn Wolfhard. Is Finn just a lousy kisser?” Brown was asked, to which she responded: “He is.” It was then revealed that the British teen actress was “telling the truth.”

Brown had her first kiss with Wolfard, 19, when the pair were around 12-13 and filming the season one finale of the hit Netflix show in 2016.

After the premiere, Brown revealed to Interview Magazine that the kiss was disappointing.

“I did have to kiss Finn. At the end of the day, it’s only acting, and it’s something you have to do, and I would do anything for the show. I cut my hair, I kissed Finn,” Brown said at the time. “It was definitely strange. It was, like, my first kiss, so it was kind of weird.”

Check out Brown's brutal honesty where Wolfhard's kissing skills are concerned:

She added: “Finn reacted quite well and I didn’t. I felt really bad afterwards.”

As part of a follow-up question, Brown was asked if Wolfhard's kissing had improved over time, to which she responded: "Not with me." Ouch!

Referring to her other Stranger Things cast mate Noah Schnapp, she lay the blame for the bowl cut his character Will Byers donned in the fourth season firmly at his door.

"Would a best friend let someone have this haircut?" the interrogator asked. Brown answered: "He put himself in that position."

When pressed on the issue, Brown avoided elaborating further, simply stating: "I love him."

Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown on Season 1, Episode 1 of Stranger Things. Aired July 15, 2016. Credit: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy

"Yes I do, yes. I'm sorry. I do. I think he looks great," she said, before the polygraph examiner promptly revealed that she was lying. "Get the picture out of here," Brown joked.

During a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Brown said her boyfriend Jake Bongiovi immediately noticed the chemistry between her and Schnapp. "When we first met, Jake was like, 'You guys are in love,'" she recalled.

"But it's in the most platonic way," Brown said, adding: "We were always able to kind of connect with each other. And it's so platonic, which is so beautiful."

The besties also previously revealed they had a pact to marry each other if they're both single by the age of 40. "We said if we're not married by 40, we'll get married together. Because we'd be good roomies," she said

Featured image credit: Image Press Agency / Alamy

Noah Schnapp - best known for his role as Will Byers on Netflix's Stranger Things - has recently come out as gay.

Taking to TikTok on Thursday, the 18-year-old actor posted a video of him alongside the words: "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was 'we know'".

The video also showed himself lip-syncing to an audio clip of someone else saying: "You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious."

In the caption, Schnapp also confirmed the news by writing: "I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought" - with the teen actor referring to the fact that his character on Netflix's hit show is gay and in love with his best friend Mike (played by 20-year-old Finn Wolfhard).

Watch the full clip below:

In an interview with Variety back in July, Schnapp confirmed Byers' sexuality for the first time.

"It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?" Schnapp said. "Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing.

"Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike."

Finn Wolfhard, left, and Noah Schnapp attending the 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards. Credit: PA Images / Alamy

While the 18-year-old was always hesitant to answer questions relating to his character's sexuality, he did admit that he wasn’t entirely sure what Stranger Things creators had in mind for Byers but season 4 gave everyone the answers they were looking for.

"I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay," Schnapp told the outlet. "People have come up to me — I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, 'Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. And I related to it so much.

"That is exactly who I was when I was a kid.' That just made me so happy to hear.

"They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well."

A still from Stranger Things (2022). Credit: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy

And according to the outlet, when the interviewer asked the star if he had any difficulty navigating his character's sexuality while at the same time figuring out his own, Schnapp opened up about navigating it all.

"I think it’s all just part of the challenge of acting," he said. "This isn’t just a single layer thing of he’s struggling with coming out. It’s this multifaceted trauma that goes years back, because he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends, they never acknowledged him, and now he’s scared to come out and doesn’t know if they’ll accept him."

Well, it seems as though everyone has accepted the teen for who he is!

Featured Image Credit: Everett Collection Inc / Alamy