Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo has revealed that he had experienced a lot of death anxiety, which he attributed to his religious upbringing.

Matarzoo became a household name following the release of Stranger Things in 2016 thanks to his endearing portrayal of Dustin Henderson. His dynamic pairing with Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) often provided the comic relief in otherwise an intense series. In Season 4, his character went through an emotional trauma after the death of his friend Eddie Munson.

The 22-year-old actor recently disclosed that he did not have a pleasant experience when he was religious as a kid.

Gaten Matarazzo Suffered Panic Attacks Sparked by Religion

Gaten Matrazzo was born of Jewish descent and was baptized Catholic by his Italian family. He grew up attending a Methodist church in a small town. In a recent interview on the Mythical Kitchen podcast, the actor reflected on his complex relationship with religion.

While he liked going to church every Sunday because he made a lot of friends, once he got older he started to ask himself these existential questions.

“When I used to be a very spiritual person, a very religious person, it was a constant [fear of death]. I know people that have beautiful, wonderful relationships with their religion, and I applaud that and I wish I did. I did not.

It just scared the s*** out of me. The stories that Protestant kids hear, is ‘you better believe this or things are gonna happen,’ and that was the original source of my first panic attacks.”

Stranger Things star later revealed that he was only 10 years old when he discovered the concept of an eternity of hell. This caused him the most fear and was the root cause of his anxiety.

“When you’re 10, you’re like, ‘oh my god, I just found out what death was, and you’re telling me that this is an option?’ Not only an option, but probably the most prevalent option.”

Gaten Matarazzo will reprise his role as Dustin Henderson in Stranger Things season 5. The first promo for the final season is expected to be out soon as reported earlier.

The much anticipated final installment is set to premiere in 2025.