“She was like, ‘I know there’s an age difference,’ and I was like, ‘Okay,’” Matarazzo remembered.
Stranger Things made Gaten Matarazzo a star, but it also brought some unwanted attention.
On Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, 21-year-old Matarazzo talked about a creepy fan encounter with a woman in her 40s. She told him,
Advertisement “I’ve had a crush on you since you were 13.”
“I was like, ‘That’s upsetting!’” Matarazzo said. “I thought she just meant, ‘Aw, this kid’s cute,’ but then she insisted, ‘I know there’s an age difference,’ and I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Matarazzo mentioned that the woman’s daughter saw the awkward situation and even told her mom, “Mom, what the heck?”
“I swear, this girl must have been like 13,” he remembered. When 51-year-old Rosenbaum asked how he reacted, Matarazzo said he “couldn’t” laugh. Instead, he just looked at his mom, who was sitting next to him.
Rosenbaum and Matarazzo also talked about fans touching them inappropriately in public. Matarazzo mentioned that he’s “definitely had a few people grab his butt.”
As Stranger Things’ final season started filming this January, Matarazzo talked about the show ending. Matarazzo told Rosenbaum:
“With this show, I know, and I want my team to know that I’m okay with Stranger Things probably being the biggest thing I’ll ever do, I’m fine with that as long as it makes me happy, keeps me secure, and helps me get more work.”
Matarazzo also said he doesn’t care about staying famous because he doesn’t really like always being in the spotlight.
Gaten Matarazzo has been in the spotlight for most of his life. He started his career at age 8 in the Broadway show Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. In 2014, when he was 11, he played Gavroche in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables.
Between seasons 4 and 5 of Stranger Things, Matarazzo went back to the stage, joining the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen as Jared Kleinman, the main character’s friend and the show’s comic relief. His Stranger Things costars, Maya Hawke and Sadie Sink, surprised him by coming to his first performance on July 19, 2022.
“Stranger Things fans showed up for Gaten’s first performance,” a person at the show told PEOPLE. “He got a huge cheer when he came on stage. There were lots of fans outside at the stage door. It was packed!”
For more exciting news and celeb stories every day, browse our website to explore what’s going on in showbiz.
Source: Variety