In his own time. Kit Connor said his bisexuality led Heartstopper fans to “force” him to come out publicly before he was ready.
Heartstopper, which premiered on Netflix on April 22, 2022, is based on Alice Oseman’s 2020 graphic novel
of the same name, which tells the love story of Charles “Charlie” Spring (Joe Locke), a shy gay student at Truham Grammar School who was recently outed, and Nicholas “Nick” Nelson (Kit Connor), a popular rugby player a year older than Charlie, who sits next to him in class one morning. The show, which has been viewed more than 24 million times since its premiere, follows Charlie and Nick’s relationship, from the start of their intimate friendship to Charlie’s crush on Nick and Nick’s struggles with his own sexuality and feelings for Charlie.
Related: Kit Connor Was Once Rumored to Be Dating His Co-Star—Was It Heartstopper‘s Joe Locke?
Since playing Charlie and Nick, there has been a lot of interest in Connor and Locke’s personal life. Some for the better and some for the worse. Read on for how Kit Conor said his bisexuality led Heartstopper fans to pressure him to come out before he wanted to.
Image: Courtesy of Graphix.
Is Kit Connor bisexual?
Connor—whose character, Nick Nelson, is bisexual in Heartstopper—came out as bisexual in a tweet in October 2022 in response to fans who pressured him to confirm his sexuality. “Back for a minute. 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,” he wrote at the time.
In an interview with British Vogue in July 2023, Connor explained why he was “disappointed” with how he came out publicly. “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. 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,” he said.
Connor also confirmed to British Vogue that he knew he was bisexual before playing Nick in Heartstopper. “It was just a very natural process for me,” Connor said. “I didn’t really have an ‘oh, shit’ moment. It just became more and more evident.” Connor added that his family was “super accepting and inclusive and wonderful” about his bisexuality, but his friends were less so.
“I was in a very heteronormative atmosphere,” Connor said. “It wasn’t hugely inclusive. It wasn’t really accepted in a lot of ways… It’s the experience of maybe you’re too straight to be gay and you’re too gay to be straight. So it’s like, ‘Where do I sit?’ But I feel much more secure in myself now.”
As for why he came out the way he did, Connor told British Vogue that his sexuality “wasn’t something I was ready to talk about,” but as he became more famous from Heartstopper, there was pressure from fans regarding his personal life. “I wasn’t angry. I was just slightly disappointed by this reaction,” he said.
Connor also told British Vogue that he’s aware his connection to Nick will follow him for the rest of his life. “I’m conscious of the fact I don’t want people to go and watch everything I’m ever in now and go, ‘Oh, it’s Nick from Heartstopper,’” he said. “I also don’t want to be labelled as anything, as a heartthrob or as the queer actor or as this or that. I want to be labelled as an actor who can do different things.”
Image: Courtesy of Netflix.
Connor told The Times in May 2022 about why he’s decided to keep his sexuality private. “I feel very strongly that I have no obligation to speak about my sexuality to the public,” he said. “I am comfortable and confident in it, but it is a very private matter.” While he’s private about his own sexuality, Connor commended Heartstopper for its representation of bisexuality in men in Nick’s storyline. “There is not much male bisexual representation, so I think it is really important that he is bi and that we really go into great detail and depth about Nick’s discovery of his sexuality and identity,” he said. Locke told The Independent about how sexuality is fluid for many cast members on Heartstopper. “I think, with a show like Heartstopper where the cast is so young and sexuality is becoming a more fluid thing, you can’t create an atmosphere where a young person has to come out before they are ready or [before they] understand their sexuality,” he said.
In an interview with NME, Connor revealed that his “biggest motivation” to star in Heartstopper was to bring more representation of bisexual characters. “One of the biggest motivations is the lack of representation for bisexual characters, especially male bisexual characters. There really aren’t that many [on screen], though I know Sex Education has a major male bisexual character,” he said. “But you know, this show is very much focused around that. Like, one of the biggest storylines is Nick exploring his sexuality. I suppose one of the challenges of a show like this is it’s never a ‘one size fits all’ kind of thing. We really have tried our best to be as inclusive and representative as possible… but at the same time, everyone’s experience in life is different. We very much tried our best to portray that and create a safe space for the queer community in particular.”
Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix.
