‘Stranger Things’ Star Gaten Matarazzo Recalls Uncomfortable Encounter With Fan In Her 40s Who Told Him “I’ve Had A Crush On You Since You Were 13”
Gaten Matarazzo recalls an uncomfortable encounter with a Stranger Things fan in her 40s who made a remark that took the young actor aback.
In a new interview, Matarazzo said that he recently interacted with a fan of the Netflix sci-fi series who revealed she had a crush on him since he was 13 years old.
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“I did one 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,’” Matarazzo said while appearing on the Inside of You podcast, via Us Weekly. “And I was like, ‘That’s upsetting.’ I’m sure she just meant, ‘Aw, this kid’s cute.'”
Matarazzo initially took the remark as a joke, but the woman doubled down on her statement in front of her teenage daughter.
“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, ‘Mom, what the f***?’ I swear to God,” he said.
Matarazzo is 21, but when Stranger Things premiered in 2016, he was 13.
The series created by the Duffer brothers is wrapping up after five seasons. Matarazzo has played Dustin and last year opened up about what he expects from his character on the last season of the show.
“I think it’s in the best hands it can be. Matt [Duffer] and Ross [Duffer] know these characters better than I think we might,” he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “It’s really interesting cause they trust us all very much to make our own decisions and go about the scenes the way we’ve always instinctually wanted to. I’ve never really given myself an opportunity to think of what they might want to do and now it’s the best time to start.”
He continued, “There’s like a deep fear that’s been like – not only has it been amazing but it’s been like pretty great job security.”
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