Heather Matarazzo posted two TikTok videos on Tuesday, attempting to debunk the widely circulating theory that she is the mother of the actor who plays Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) on Netflix’s hit Stranger Things. But in all fairness to nosey fans, Gaten’s actual mother is also named Heather—a wild coincidence that didn’t help to make this situation any less confusing. In the first video, the actress, who is best known for her iconic role as the best friend (Lilly Moscovitz) to Anne Hathaway’s character (Mia Thermopolis) in Disney’s Princess Diaries (2001 and 2004), tried their best to duet the now viral video of a fan ’exposing’ the alleged familial relationship. “Why is no-one talking about this?” the original poster overlayed over a screen-recording of Gaten Matarazzo’s Google bio that mistakenly links the Princess Diaries star to the young actor by pulling actress Heather’s images in place of Gaten’s biological, non-famous, mother. The video then zoomed in on a photo of Heather as her character Lilly accompanied by the text: “Dustin’s mom is Lilly Moscovitz from Princess Diaries??” The actress, who looked just as stunned as fans to find out that she may be related to the former Broadway actor, quickly shook their head ’no’ and mouthed “Nope, I’m not,” for the duration of the duet. The Now And Again and Welcome To The Dollhouse actress then posted a second follow-up video—with audio this time—to verbalize to fans that they have the wrong Heather. “I just wanted to clarify something because I’ve been getting a number of messages regarding this,” they said, adding with a laugh, “I absolutely adore Gaten Matarazzo, I think he is brilliant, I think he is wonderful; but I cannot claim him as my son. Because he is not.” “Gaten, if you would like to help confirm this, that would be greatly appreciated. I also wonder how inundated you’re getting with messages as well. So yes, love Gaten Matarazzo but not my kid. I have no kids–they’re all fur babies, I have four-legged babies.” While Gaten has yet to make an official response to Heather’s video, hopefully the press coverage is enough to squash the rumor. Next, David Harbour Wants This ‘Euphoria’ Star to Play a Young Hopper in a ‘Stranger Things’ Spin-Off.
