Schnapp, now 20, recently shared that he didn’t think he needed therapy when he first became famous. Back then, he saw himself as a “happy-go-lucky kid.” That perspective changed as he got older and began to understand the emotional toll of fame.
“It’s hard to grow up in the public eye,” Schnapp told USA Today. “You don’t know yourself yet, and you’re expected to know everything and have all the answers.”
The actor said that every mistake felt permanent, frozen in time online. “I was constantly saying the wrong things or being embarrassed by not taking certain things seriously,” he explained. “That lives on forever. People grow and learn, and doing that publicly is not easy.”
Schnapp agrees with Ariana Grande, who has previously said therapy should be mandatory for children working in entertainment. According to Schnapp, fame creates an “abnormal life” that requires support beyond just parents.
“You need some kind of system outside your family,” he said. “Something to keep you grounded.”
He also admitted that, as a child, he struggled to understand why so many people in Hollywood battled depression, addiction, or eating disorders. That understanding came with age.
“As you get older, you see how the pressure can really create that,” Schnapp said, adding that he could never imagine living full-time in Los Angeles. “I think I would get lost.”
Schnapp was just 11 years old when he began filming Season 1 of Stranger Things in 2015, before the show premiered in 2016 and became a cultural phenomenon. The series is now nearing its end, with its fifth and final season rolling out on Netflix, culminating in a two-hour finale on December 31.
As his journey on the show comes to a close, Schnapp’s message is clear: success at a young age may look glamorous, but without proper mental health support, it can come at a serious cost.
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