Charlie Heaton made rare comments about his long-term girlfriend, Stranger Things costar Natalia Dyer, and becoming a dad at age 20.
The two first met while auditioning for the Netflix series, and have been quietly together in the years since. Natalia said of their relationship back in 2022, “We were colleagues first. It’s a standard, natural thing that would’ve happened either way. We work on the same show — naturally we would do interviews together and things like that. The weirdest thing about [our relationship] is other people’s perception and reaction to it.”
In a new interview with Wonderland magazine, the 31-year-old British actor described working with Natalia as “precious.” He said, “It’s been a gift to work with my best friend.”
“To be able to have a shared experience with your partner about the anxiety when you don’t get a job — I know what that feels like, she knows what that feels like. You can be there to talk about it, or when you have a shit day at work, or come away from a scene and you didn’t think it worked. To be able to both understand each other on that level is great,” he continued.
Charlie also discussed having a son with his former Comanechi bandmate, Akiko Matsuura, when he was 20 years old. “Being a young father, you have to grow up very fast,” he said. “You have to also learn ethical priorities, too, and you’ve got to look after somebody. That’s a big thing. You want to give them good experiences and a lot of love and the hard part obviously is distance. But that’s part of the sacrifice.”
You can read the full interview here.