Sadie Sink Talks About What It Was Like to Kiss Caleb McLaughlin On ‘Stranger Things’ For the 1st Time

Sadie Sink and co-star Caleb McLaughlin are good friends in real life, and on the set of Stranger Things their chemistry makes them a very believable couple. But Sink admitted that this didn’t make their first on screen kiss any less awkward, especially because it was her very first kiss.

“It was with Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Lucas,” Sink told W Magazine of the milestone moment in a new interview. “We were filming. You can see it on Netflix!”

She added, “We were both awkward, but it was also funny because all our friends were there and all these extras and lights and music. It was nerve-wracking at the time, but I look back now and can laugh about it.”

The 20-year-old actress recently starred in The Whale across from Brendan Fraser, and was the lead in Taylor Swift’s short film and music video “All Too Well.” She told W Magazine that her first big break was actually on stage, not on camera.

“I was on Broadway,” she said. “I played Annie in Annie. I can’t listen to any of the songs from that show anymore—they trigger something. I was 10 when I was cast in Annie, and I was in the show for 18 months. You do get too old—there’s a specific height requirement for each orphan. When it was time to get measured, everyone was saying, ‘Oh god. I hope I don’t grow an inch.’”

Unsettlingly, experiencing your first kiss for a role isn’t that unusual for a child actor. Mila Kunis had her first kiss on the set of That ’70s Show with Ashton Kutcher, who she eventually married. Selena Gomez has also said that she shared her first kiss with Dylan Sprouse while on the Disney series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.