strangers keep walking up to the young sheldon star to ask if he's gay. his answer is "not for you." iconic, no notes.

Photo: Iain Armitage in 2026. Adrian machiela, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Imagine being 18, extremely famous for playing a child genius, and having strangers walk up to you in public to ask, "Yo, you gay?"

That is apparently Iain Armitage's life. In Jessica Radloff's new book about Young Sheldon, which came out Oct. 20, he told her people have assumed he is dating specific people, "like Mckenna [Grace], or people thinking I'm gay," and that "sometimes people will come up to me in public and be like, 'Yo, you gay?' or 'Man, you dating anyone?'"

He has, he said, "a whole myriad of stuff to respond with." Our favorites, as quoted by Us Weekly: "if it's a guy asking if I'm gay, I'll say, 'Not for you.' Or 'I haven't found the right guy yet.'" And for the girlfriend question: "That's private, dude, don't ask that."

Let us be extremely clear, since the headlines this week have not been: he did not tell anyone what his sexuality is. He told them how he deals with people who demand to know. "Not for you" is not a clue. It is the answer, and it is perfect. The guy has been on TV since he was a kid and has figured out, at 18, the thing it takes most of us until 30 and a therapist to learn, which is that a stranger asking is not the same as a stranger being owed.

"I haven't found the right guy yet" is the funniest of the three, and it will be screenshotted out of context by people who should know better. We are choosing to read it as a man who has been asked a rude question so many times he started doing bits.