We need to talk about Drake texting 14-year-old Millie Bobby Brown

Drake and Brown’s text messages may be innocent enough, but are they appropriate?

Who doesn’t love an unexpected celebrity friendship? Teen actress Millie Bobby Brown seems to be at the centre of quite a few of them. From Kim Kardashian to Aaron Paul to Miley Cyrus, the 14-year-old has been shot into the limelight by her role in Stranger Things and celebrities, young and old alike, seem to be falling over themselves to meet her.

Canadian rapper Drake is the latest of Brown’s celebrity fans, although it appears that this friendship goes further than Instagram selfies. On the Emmy red carpet this week, Brown told Access Hollywood about her and Drake’s friendship. “He's honestly so fantastic. A great friend and a great role model,“ she said, excitedly. ”We just texted each other the other day and he was like 'I miss you so much,' and I was like 'I miss you more.'”

When asked what they text about, Brown replied, “About boys, he helps me.” When pushed to describe what kind of boy advice the 31-year-old rapper gives Brown, she says that “stays in the text messages.”

The internet was quick to point out the large age gap between Brown and Drake – 18 years – and whether it’s appropriate for Drake to give relationship advice to a teenage girl who’s obviously a fan of his.

Drake has yet to tell his side of the story and there is no indication that this is anything other than an innocent enough friendship, but take away that Brown and Drake are two household names and you’re still left with a 31-year-old man sending personal texts to a teenager.

Like child stars before her, Brown is growing up with the world watching her. She’s an eloquently spoken person and seemingly wise beyond her years. Her red carpet style has come under scrutiny before with some worried that she’s having to dress older than her age. She was named one of Time’s Most Influential People in 2017 and has repeatedly been called an icon for her generation with 17.3 million Instagram followers.

It goes without saying that Brown does not live the life of an ordinary teenager. That makes it seem easier to excuse the texts between her and Drake as nothing more than celebrity eccentricity, but Brown is still a 14-year-old and despite her career, it still feels inappropriate to me for Drake to be sending her “I miss you” texts.

Even without the celebrity status of Brown, teenage girls are growing up faster than ever before. Have a quick scroll through Instagram and you’ll find hundreds of thousands of pre-pubescent Kardashian Mini-Mes with perfect make-up and bodycon dresses. Inevitably looking older can lead to young women being treated as if they are older.

While I grew up before Instagram, I remember older men coming up to me and my teenage friends in the park, telling us they liked the way we looked and if we would like to go with them for a drink. It’s hardly a rarity for adult men to hit on teenagers.

Drake and Brown’s text messages may be innocent enough. Still, with the fallout from #MeToo, Hollywood is currently under intense scrutiny about what is or isn’t appropriate behaviour.

Maybe it’s easy to read too much into the situation but personally, I can see no circumstances in which a 31-year-old man sending an “I miss you” text to a 14-year-old girl to whom he’s not related is appropriate, no matter how wise beyond her years that girl seems.