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]]

Television has never been the same since the advent of the internet. It may be weird to consider now, but a decade ago, there weren't services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime around to cater to our binge-watching needs, nor were we able to stream absolutely everything straight to our laptops, iPhones or iPads. As such, shows such as Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things have amassed a legion of fans, who greatly appreciate the fact that entire seasons can be consumed in a single weekend. And yeah, I guess you can say that us Millennials are incredibly impatient, but personally, I think that some shows are just so good that you can't help but watch the entire thing... in record time. Certainly, it seems that the entire world has spent the past weekend watching all nine episodes of the heavily anticipated second season of Stranger Things. The television show, which debuted last year took the world by storm with its quirky sci-fi premise and blatant homage to the eighties. And as such, the young stars of the Netflix production quickly saw themselves catapulted into the limelight. But life isn't always peachy keen when you're knocking shoulders with the rich and famous. Indeed, Finn Wolfhard, (aka. Mike) found himself needing to speak out about some undue attention that he and his fellow actors have been receiving since the second season premiered... It's safe to say that Finn Wolfhard and his co-stars have had their careers made from starring in Stranger Things. However, it's apparently become a bit much. After several rather aggressive run-ins between the young cast and the public, Finn Wolfhard, has decided that enough is enough. He took to Twitter to urge the die-hard Stranger Things fandom to lay off on the harassment. Writing on his personal Twitter account, Wolfhard said: "Hey everybody! I don't wanna ex-communicate anyone from this fandom, but if you are for real you will not harass my friends, or co-workers. Ya'll know who you are." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/FinnSkata/status/928406893986422784]]

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!

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

Gaten Matarazzo has opened up about "uncomfortable" interactions he has had with Stranger Things fans.

The young actor is best known for portraying Dustin on the Netflix drama, which first aired on the streaming giant in 2016 - when he was just 13 years old.

The award-winning show takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a group of friends witness a series of supernatural events.

During an appearance on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, the now 21-year-old was asked if he’d had any memorable fan interactions over the years.

He then spoke about the moment a mother confessed that she had a crush on him in front of her own daughter.

“I did [an event] very recently - and this is not very funny, but the reactions around it were quite funny - where this woman in her 40s said straight up, ‘I’ve had a crush on you since you were 13,’” he shared, per Variety. “And I was like, ‘That’s upsetting.’ I’m sure she just meant, ‘Aw, this kid’s cute.’ But then she doubled down.”

He went on to note: “She was like, ‘I’m aware of the age difference.’ And then I was like, ‘Alright.’” And her daughter was with her, and her daughter goes, ‘Mum, what the f***?’ I swear to God.”

Many people took to their social media to share their disgust at the mom's strange confession.

One user wrote: "This is gross and she clearly made him uncomfortable," while another said: "Seriously? That's just creepy and awkward."

A third user exclaimed: "The daughter is all of us, cuz Ma’am WHAT THE ACTUAL F***?!" and a fourth added: "F***ing hell man... some people have no shame."

While Matarazzo may have had questionable encounters with Stranger Things fans, he told the interviewer that he’s thankful for the popular series because of the opportunities that have come from it.

“Those careers are always about peaks and values. With this show, it is quite clear and I am very well aware - and would like my professional team — to understand that I am very OK with Stranger Things being very likely the biggest thing I will ever do,” he said. 

“And it will most likely be the thing I am remembered for even if I consistently work after this,” he continued. “And I am so cool with that as long as it facilitates happiness going forward, security, and more work going forward. What more could I ask for?"

"I don’t want to maintain a sense of relevance at this point when it isn’t even something I particularly enjoy that much," he added. 

The show is currently filming its fifth and final season, which is set to premiere in 2025.

Featured image credit: Bruce Glikas / Getty