Joe Locke says adjusting to sudden fame has been difficult.
The young breakout star of Netflix’s “Heartstopper” spoke on the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast about his strategies for dealing with the attention — especially on social media.
“I think, on the first few weeks, I sort of found myself looking for the bad comments, and looking for things that would upset me,” Locke said. “I dunno why, but I think it’s a very natural human thing that people do.”
In order to protect his own mental health, the star found the best thing to do was to avoid social media, at least for now.
“I don’t look at Twitter as much anymore or TikTok or my Instagram because I find that I find it a bit overwhelming and I find it quite a lot,” he explained.
That being said, the young actor wanted his fans to know that he still appreciates the kind words and compliments.
“That doesn’t mean that I can’t see all the nice things people are saying, I just have to do it in measures otherwise it’ll just become a little bit overwhelming. I’ll never turn off my phone. I’ll never live my life, which is not good.”
“Living life” for the 18-year-old has meant studying for his A levels — a series of subject-based qualifications in the UK that are looked at for entrance into higher education.
“So that’s something that’s definitely keeping my head on the ground. Well, actually, in a textbook, but yeah,” he joked. “I was gonna say it’s so nice to have my A levels to sort of keep me grounded, but it’s not. They’re awful and I hate them.”
Reflecting on the show’s success, the star was happy that it was getting attention, especially with the type of story it’s trying to tell.
READ MORE: Olivia Colman Was In Tears While Rehearsing For ‘Heartstopper’, Kit Connor And Joe Locke Reveal
Locke recalled a post from the blogging site Tumblr that lauded the show for not casting a “conventionally attractive, six-pack, white male” as the lead. He joked about the back-handed compliment, but also agreed that the framework around “attractive” needs to change in popular media.
“It’s exactly that it’s not the norm. That’s not the norm at all and we need to show more of the norm and what is normal,” he said. “Because I think that especially on big TV shows, unrealistic body images are shown as the norm. And also, who decided that was what we deem as attractive?”
“Heartstopper” has already been greenlit for two more seasons, with the second season expected to focus on Charlie’s eating disorder.
