Millie Bobby Brown: Stranger Things is ‘preventing me from creating stories I’m passionate about’

‘Stranger Things’ star says she’s ready to say ‘thank you and goodbye’ to hit Netflix series

Millie Bobby Brown has said she’s ready to say “thank you and goodbye” to Stranger Things as it’s “preventing” her from creating stories she’s “passionate” about.

The 19-year-old British actor was just 11 when she first landed the role of Eleven in the hit Netflix sci-fi series.

Stranger Things is scheduled to film its fifth and final season once the ongoing actors’ strike is resolved.

In a new interview with Glamour, Brown admitted that she’s ready to move on from the longrunning drama as it has taken up a “lot of time to film and it’s preventing me from creating stories that I’m passionate about”.

While she acknowledged that portraying Eleven has given her “the tools and the resources to be a better actor”, she added: “When it ends, I’m going to be able to still see these people.”

Elsewhere in the interview, she recalled the heavy scrutiny she faced from YouTubers and bloggers who would critique her behaviour during group interviews with her castmates, including Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo.

“I was just penalised for overtalking and oversharing and being too loud,” she remembered. “We’re kids – we talk over each other.”

Millie Bobby Brown (Getty Images)

Brown said she was accused of “trying to steal the thunder” of her co-stars, and grown adults called her “an idiot”, “stupid” and “a brat”.

“It’s hard to hear that at 13,” she said. “You’re like, ‘I don’t want to ever talk again. I don’t want to be the loud person.’

“In interviews, I couldn’t help but think of all the comments. So I just remembered to stay silent and speak when I was spoken to, even though I was dying to join in. I just felt it wasn’t my turn.”

She explained that her experience as a child star has made her protective of other up-and-coming young actors.

“You cannot speak on children that are underage,” the Enola Holmes actor said. “I mean, our brains physically have not grown yet. To diminish and practically stunt someone’s growth mentally, strip them down, tell them, ‘Hey, listen, you don’t look that great. Why are you wearing that? How dare you think you can wear that? How dare you say that?’”

Lately, Brown, who is currently engaged to Jon Bon Jovi’s son, 21-year-old Jake Bongiovi, has been busy with wedding plans. However, in a September interview, she said that the wedding planning process itself hasn’t been that stressful, as “Jake is very involved”.

“He’s very helpful during the whole process. I’ve never felt alone in it, which is very nice. I’m always like, ‘Is this a good idea, is this a good idea?’ But ultimately, it’s just a very intimate day for the both of us and we’re both very excited,” she said.