Story Excerpts

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“I binged all three seasons in one day. I was at a low moment in my life, having had a difficult year prior to this that affected pretty much all aspects of my life (work, relationships, etc.). When I finished the series the first time, there was a hole in my heart, an ache I couldn’t soothe or make go away. The only thing I could do to stop the pain in my heart was to start the series over and watch it again. After seeing Charlie’s journey (and the toll it was taking on Nick) in Season 3 Episode 4, I got a therapist and entered therapy for eight weeks. I started working again, got promoted, moved to a bigger place and started dating.”

I live in North Hollywood. I’m 39 years old. I had heard of Heartstopper because the hallway scene from the season 1 finale kept coming up in my Facebook feed. I decided to watch it on January 7, 2025. When I got to the kiss in episode 3, my power went out. As I said, I live in North Hollywood, and January 7 was the day of the Palisades fire, which I lived 4 miles away from. I would be without power for three days. 

But my phone still worked, and I have several battery phone chargers, so I picked Heartstopper up on my phone where I left off and watched the entire series all night. The only light I had for three days was my phone playing – and replaying – Heartstopper. ”

“In January, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The day after my diagnosis, I fell apart. I thought that all of this good stuff, all the confidence, the new me, and my new identity was over; I'd only just found it, and it was being taken away. But that evening, something changed. I decided that I wasn't willing to let the new me go, that cancer was just one part of my life, not my whole life. 

I put on the Heartstopper soundtrack, pulled up my favourite fanfic, surrounded myself with the support of my Discord group friends, and fought back. Through each surgery and each round of treatment, my focus has been on Heartstopper (there's nothing like an imaginary Nick Nelson hug to get you through yet another injection or anaesthetic), and I'm officially in remission. 

Heartstopper and its wider influence gave me the strength to fight for my life and win.”

“At first glance, I thought I might be too old for a series that is about teenagers (I was 27 when I first saw it), but I quickly realized that it was very much for any age group because of how many important messages it contains. To me, this wasn’t just another teen show, and I have never felt such an intense connection and so much care and love for fictional characters before. Heartstopper feels like the biggest hug that you never got when you were young and going through stuff. It feels like the most wholesome, empathetic, but also very powerful and kind story that I think everyone needs to see, whether you are young and queer, or older, or straight. Its message is really important in so many ways, and I believe that everyone can take something away from it.

My whole life, I felt like an outcast, and I was bullied as a kid, so Charlie’s storyline very much resonated with me. Heartstopper helped me find some actual self-compassion and self-acceptance, which is something I truly never had before. I have been struggling with mental health issues since I was 15 (OCD & anorexia), and seeing “that so authentically and sensitively portrayed was honestly life-changing to me. It was a part of my life that I thought I would want to erase from my memory, until I saw it reflected through Charlie's lens. I never wanted real recovery as much as I did after season 3, and the impact it had on me to see these struggles AND recovery shown in such a beautiful way was honestly life-saving. Seeing how incredible recovery can be made me want to experience it for myself. Before, I had gone through the process because I felt like it was something I had to do, but after watching Charlie’s journey, I began to believe that I deserved it. 

The way Charlie’s eating disorder was portrayed was different from what I had seen in other media. It’s not always purely about body image; sometimes it stems from other trauma someone has experienced. It captured how much deeper the causes of it can go.”

“Before Heartstopper, I was a shell of the person I am now. I worried about people’s perception of me and not being accepted. My confidence was low, but Heartstopper made me want to show the world who I really am. In 2022, I came out as bisexual after living with the fear that nobody could accept me. Of course, there were some people who had an unsavoury opinion, but for the most part, people were just welcoming me with open arms.In my newfound determination to prove to myself that I can do more, that I need to reach out and do the scary things, I enrolled back into school to complete my GCSEs. I’ve completed an Access to Higher Education diploma and I’m going to university to study clinical psychology. Heartstopper was the key for me to open those doors within myself to take that leap. I was inspired by Charlie’s determination never to give up, to seek help with my own battles, and to take chances. I loved Nick’s bravery in taking a huge step in coming out to his mum, which inspired me to do the same, as well as coming out to people in my life. Without the beautiful show, I never would have had the confidence and courage to try and give life a go."

"So, where do I enter this story? Heartstopper came into my life at the perfect time. At the point of watching Heartstopper for the first time, I was three years deep into a YouTube and creative hiatus. I lost my career due to “COVID. I had no direction, no forward trajectory. I was just existing. And I was sinking further and further into, well, alcohol addiction.

I was at one of the lowest points of my life and struggling in silence. I felt like I was disappearing. Now here's where my life and Heartstopper cross paths. As I made my way through the eight episodes, I was filled with so many emotions. Happiness, anger, grieving. Just about every emotion you could think of. And when I reached the end of this series, which I adored for so many reasons, I was left with an overwhelming feeling of sadness.

And at first, I couldn't figure out why. Why had I found this series both equally gratifying and traumatic? Well, I quickly realised that as the show went on, I was being forced to revisit my own experiences, and it made me realise that I've got a lot of healing to do. I'd spent so many years repressing so many emotions from the traumas of my childhood, and they were all now starting to surface. I knew I couldn't continue to repress these emotions if I was ever going to truly heal.

So I began to share in the only way that I knew how: By watching the show again and writing down all of my feelings in note form. And by the time I was done, I knew exactly what I had to do next."