Most of what I know about Millie Bobby Brown is through you all. Millie Bobby Brown is the 14-year old star of Stranger Things. She is currently dating 15-year old singer, Jacob Sartorius. Over the weekend, she posted a picture of the two of them kissing with the caption, “moonlight w him”. Jacob posted the same photo and captioned it, “moonlight w her.”
The two photos have both been taken down, which we will get to in a bit. Prior to being removed, singer Ariana Grande popped on Millie’s post to tease her with the comment, “i wasn’t even allowed to leave my house til i was 20.” Ariana and Millie are friendly and supportive of each online so clearly this was playful teasing on Ariana’s part. I mean, Ariana started her career at 15 so she wasn’t that much older than Millie when she ‘got out of the house.’
But her point, intentional or not, is well made – why is a 14-year old making out with her boyfriend in the moonlight? Like, sure, some of us hid behind the tree at the rec center to steal a kiss at the school dance behind the chaperone’s back but the photo Millie posted looks like they are on a dock at a beach. Granted, it looked like sunset more than midnight and we don’t know who took the picture, but I don’t think anyone thinks it’s a parent. And, as I mentioned above, it’s now gone. Someone in Millie’s camp realized this was only going to help the pervasive thought that Millie is growing up too soon. Instead, the photo was replaced with this:
Once again, both Millie and Jacob posted the same pic with the similar caption. It’s all very cute and puppy-love-ish. But let’s be real, whoever made the decision to take down the other shot is only managing the kids’ public image, who knows how much they are minding the kids behind the scenes. I get that both are very excited about the relationship, I remember those days – every guy I dated was the love of my life… for the three weeks we ‘dated.’ And I hope that is all this is, a fun, age-appropriate relationship.
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos
You’d be surprised. Some fourteen year olds are roaming the streets in groups and getting up to all sorts of mischief.
But this pic could’ve been taken anywhere with parents close by. Who knows?
I hear about mischievous 14 year olds. When my nephew told me what goes on at his high school dances, my jaw hit the floor.
My daughter worked in a NICU and you wouldn’t believe the number of 12, 13 & 14 year olds that have babies.
I was up to no good but I wasn’t stupid about some things, neither were my friends. We had good sex education at school and condoms were given out for free. Gotta love Canada
I came here to say what Swack said.
@Kitty Did you grow up in Cawston? 🙂 hahaha
I was up to no good when I was 14. Good thing I was in a very small community, I hung out with all guys but I’m related to most of them lol. Different story when they started inviting other guy friends over from school for the weekend, but I’m still with one of them now fifteen years later so it’s not so bad.
God I was well-behaved and I was kissing boys at night time when I was 14!! I remember my mother being much stricter than most parents and even the kids with the strictest parents still found opportunities to do this kind of thing. You stay at a friends’ place with lax parents and go meet up in the park or on the beach or in the parking lot of McDonalds and all hang out. People make out, drink one can of something and get tipsy, giggle and basically act like teenagers. My first kiss was at night on a little island that you walked over a bridge to from a beach. There were about 100 teenagers gathered down on the beach and across the island. A boy slobbered all over my face and we both had braces that I was worried would catch. 😂 My second kiss was in the back garden of a party. My third in a park at night where a group of about 10 of us were hanging out. This is not a big deal. As I said, I was well-behaved – I never once got a detention, my teachers loved me, I played loads of sports, sang in choir, did charity, did drama and debating and public speaking, participated in just about everything. If my mother put her foot down that I couldn’t go to a party or someone’s house I would obey. I mostly did what I was told to do. But I still hung out with other teenagers in the “white lie zone” of staying where I said I would stay but meeting up with other kids. A chaste kiss at moonlight is nothing to be concerned about.
It could be worse – I was out late at that age as well.
Yep Thinking back to 13-14 me, and my friends with what we were getting up too – Yh it could be ALOT worse .
Is it odd that I’m relieved he’s age-appropriate? Kids will experiment, so need to clutch our pearls over it, but I’d be more concerned if it were some Tyga/Kylie situation, as opposed to two kids the same age.
I was dating a very troubled 19 year old when I was 14. Sucking face at dusk was probably the most innocent thing that we did.
It’s not odd at all lol. I don’t know where all this ’14 is too young for a bf!’ talk is coming from, I didn’t date at that age but a few of my friends did have boyfriends in 7th-8th grade so idk why everyone is pretending this is new (I’m now in my early thirties so this was the 90s-00s).
The boyfriend thing isn’t odd in itself, it’s the fame and constant exposure that is odd here. I had boyfriends at 14 as well, mostly innocent kissing behind a tree in the schoolyard. But this young girl is kissing her first boyfriend in front of millions and millions of people on Instagram. And hiding in the wings are her management team and stage parents. Someone should tell her to keep her public and private lives separate (none of the other Stranger Things kids are posting stuff like this), but the grown ups around her won’t do that – they are making too much money.
Like Anne de Vries very wisely said below – she’s already kissed a boy onscreen at age 11 or 12 , and clutching pearls over her private life basically implies that her being directed to kiss a boy and have it broadcast for our entertainment is okay but when she kisses someone in her private life because she wants to, and uploads it to her instagram because she wants to, that’s a problem?
Yeah, I have a number of friends who dated (and lost their virginity to) boys who were 4-10 years older at that age. One list her girginity to a 19 year old at 13 which in retrospect is just gross and exploitative of that guy. Another started dating a 25 year old when she was 15. Young girls often think being with older guys makes them cool but from the perspective of being the same age or older than those guys it is really disturbing and says a lot about the guys’ need to be in control. When I was 14 I was asked out 3 times by 18 year olds who wanted to date me. I turned them all down and other girls in my year said I was insane. I had not hit puberty yet (it was two years off – I was a late bloomer!) and knew I looked young for my age. I didn’t know those boys and was perturbed by their interest in me – why were they interested in me when they didn’t know me and I looked so young? I thought it was weird and gross. Also, I was NOT ready for sex and assumed they’d want to have it. I’m actually so proud of my 14 year old self for thinking this way!
Teacakes: Who said the onscreen kissing was unproblematic? That kiss did draw quite a bit of criticism as well, because it was completely unnecessary in a show about kids. You can portray puppy love without making them behave like adults – heck, you could even portray Mike and Eleven as just being friends, and the show would have been just as good.
Besides, there is a whole context here. This is a kid who is clearly not well-protected by the people around her. A year ago she was exhausted to the point of being ill, because of the number of appearances, cons and shoots she was being pressured to do. She’s still doing them. She’s still at every premiere and award show, as if she was 25 (her castmates aren’t doing anywhere near the same number of appearances). Looking at her Instagram I get a bad feeling, not because she has a boyfriend (like lots of 14 year olds) but because it’s unclear whether the things she shares are her choice, or if there are grown ups around her who benefit financially from the attention these photos are generating. Kissing at 14 is fine, but it’s problematic if it’s part of a big PR strategy.
Are we really being scandalised over a 14 & 15 year old dating and kissing, while she had her first onscreen kiss at 13? Like, it’s okay if she does it for the camera and our entertainment, but god forbid that she does it in private with somebody of her own choosing because she likes it?
Excellent point.
This. We’re looking at a normal age-appropriate relationship involving high school freshmen. This idea that she’s supposed to wait until older strangers are comfortable with the thought of her kissing and dating is a little uncomfortable. Not everybody blooms at the same pace when it comes to ‘romance’.
She’s a girl who just naturally looks older than she is no matter what she’s wearing (she’s Ariana Grande in reverse! LOL) so unfortunately, her modesty and purity are under a teensy bit more policing (not that all young women in the public eye don’t get policed this way) than it would be if she actually looked 14. The slut-shaming has already started for her. If when she’s older she decides to take a ‘fuck you’ Slut Walk approach to it, people will honestly be confused and cry, “How can she find this rebellious and empowering?”
Yeah. I am puzzled over why this is an issue. They’re both fully clothed and it’s all very PG. Teenagers kiss. It happens. Now it’s just on instagram.
This exactly! Lol This is not a big deal. I wasn’t allowed to date, in any terms of the word, until I was 16 years old. I turned out fine but this is totally normal teenage high school behavior.
LOL exactly. Thank you for making that point.
lol and Millie wasn’t even 13 at her first onscreen kiss, she was 11!
And agreed – what’s so “growing up too fast” about a 14 year old kissing her 15 year old bf? Oh no, it was kissing AFTER DARK, let’s clutch our pearls!
That’s a really great point!
I’m happy they are an age appropriate match.
I am still confused why this was an issue. I didn’t have a boyfriend at 14. My cousin did and I remember the things she and friends did with theirs was far more adult than a kiss in the moonlight.
14-15 year olds playing at ‘adult’ relationships make me a little uncomfortable. Add to that some element of wealth and independence that ‘regular’ kids didn’t/don’t have when we thought we were toooootallybin love at 15. I hope their parents are present and not blinded by their kids income.
I have mixed feelings, I guess. My husband and I started dating at their age. I know what kids are doing – and we were pretty tame compared to a lot of others in our age group.
That being said – her bff Maddy from Dance Moms makes me uncomfortable, too. They seem to live like couples in their 20s in a lot of ways. And it’s kind of sad. But at the same time – these kids aren’t the same as your run of the mill 14/15 year olds. They’ve grown up super fast and hold down a steady job already at their age. But it’s sad in general because they aren’t having normal kid experiences, I guess.
Oh, it makes me more than a little uncomfortable. If she were a normal teenager, it wouldn’t bother me, but she’s not. She’s a child star who has been rapidly pushed into more mature, sexualized depictions of behavior faster than her male costars, compounded by her parents essentially stage parenting her, which means she’s the one financially supporting the family. It’s too much responsibility too fast – which can give one the false impression that they’re far more prepared for adult behaviors and consequences than they actually are.
I was mostly unsupervised by age 14 and at 15 my first bf and I were together a lot (because LOOOOVE!!!), also largely unsupervised. It was fine. We “played at” an adult relationship because honestly that’s what normal teenagers do. We didn’t post about it on the internet because that was not a thing back then. You’re just seeing it now. It’s always happened. Nothing that is happening in this picture is rare or abnormal. Some kids wait longer for dating/kissing/etc, others don’t. As long as it’s personal preference and nobody is being pressured to do anything before they are ready, it’s fine. We could fill a textbook with what’s wrong with child stars and how they are often treated, but let’s not bring normal teenage behavior into it.
This seems like a typical fourteen year old move to be honest.
…?…
I was definitely allowed out after dark when I was 14.
And we didn’t have phones back then. My mom had no idea where I was.
I was fine.
Me too! I was required to call my mother to check in if I was out past a certain time, but my mom usually only had a vague idea where I was and a general picture of what I was doing. Only very rarely did I abuse that freedom and I tended to regret it when I did. Not because I got in trouble, but because what I was doing wasn’t worth the potential consequences both from my parents if they ever found out or the thing itself backfiring on me. The majority of my friends were the same way.
I think Ariana was making a joke. I thought it was sweet tbh.
I think she was, too.
I’m addressing Hecate’s stress.
I don’t think it’s the time or the fact that she has a boyfriend. It goes with the pattern of her parents aging her too fast. By all accounts and rumors her parents are stage parents and she is supporting all of them. And separating her from the other kids in the cast. I think the worry is the entire picture being pushed here.
Yes, this. She is being dressed and styled like she is in her 20’s or 30’s. Sad:(
14 is young. My daughter has her first real boyfriend at 17 and I’m much more comfortable with that than I would have been at 14.
With all due respect, MBB isn’t your daughter and it doesn’t matter whether you personally are comfortable with her dating or not, since you aren’t her parent. There’s no one-size-fits-all rule when it comes to things like these.
Please refer to the title of this page.
Yeah and your comfort level for your daughter starting to date isn’t applicable to this girl who’s not your daughter.
The ‘not allowed to leave the house’ quote from Ariana is also very clearly a joke in context, not sure why the title of the page justifies anything.
Yeah, I’m in my thirties now, so watching fourteen year olds play at romance in Instagram photos just hits my squick button so hard, I can’t hit the back button fast enough. I’m not naive enough to think that kids don’t get into each other that young, but, uh, pass. I don’t want to know about it. I’m getting to that crotchety age where even fictional depictions of teenagers engaging each other sexually vaguely grosses me out.
lol same
Look, I’m a member of Team Protect MBB (and all child actors for that matter) At All Costs, but the backlash Ariana got for this is just too much. The comment was obviously far from ill-intended. Some people need to chill.
Yeah, I thought she was clearly teasing. Latin American culture has a pretty hefty Catholic influence, so I wouldn’t be surprised if her upbringing was a little more conservative, but there is a clear element of hyperbole to her statement.
Ariana is actually Italian-American.
Yeah Ariana is 100% Italian.
Huh! I could have sworn I’d read she had Mexican heritage. I must be confusing her with somebody else entirely. Ah well.
At her age I had to be home by 7. I was 18 and arguing with my parents because my curfew was 11pm. But I remember having my first kiss and going to 3rd st that age as well. I lost my virginity at 18 so it didn’t matter what time my parents wanted me to be home. What I was gonna do. I was gonna do regardless of time constraints. I also had my only child at 22. And I try to parent to not be as overprotective as my parents, but I’m also not trying to be my daughters best friend. I’m still her mother. Parenting is tricky, period.
“3rd St?”
Your region sounds posh. hahaha 😉
We called it “3rd base”…
…actually no,…we just called it “oral”….
We were admittedly NOT posh.
LOL I meant to write 3rd base. My stupid spellcheck kept changing it up and then I got a phone call in the middle of my post and forgot to edit. lol
Kids are getting stupider by the minute, no offence. When I was 13-15 years old the most we had done, sexually, was making out. That was it. Now a days I listen to kids talk or see what they post on SM, and I want to bang my head against a wall – sex, drugs, pregnancy, terminations, etc. What are their parents even doing? Are these kids really free to roam with no parental or adult supervision?
Teens were always doing this stuff….teen pregnancy rates and smoking have gone down a lot over the years.
I love when people say no offence when what you really mean is offence. She’s fourteen, Kissinger fifteen year old boyfriend…I don’t see why you are talking about drugs and no supervision.
Unless people around that age have drastically changed within the past decade or so, I’m pretty sure pregnancy and virginity loss among 13-year-olds is still the exception rather than the rule. Of course it happens sometimes, but it’s not true for the majority. Someone dating at that age doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re banging. Teen pregnancy overall has actually been on the decline and the average age for first time sexual intercourse hovers at around 16 or 17 in the US. As for drugs, when people weren’t just trying to be edgy by fabricating or exaggerating, ‘drugs’ at around 13 or 14 usually just meant alcohol, cigarettes, or weed. Even with that, not everybody was smoking weed. There were a few exceptions- like kids who were selling their meds and a few who ended up with addiction issues/ using hard drugs before they were even old enough to drive. But again, that wasn’t the norm. It’s pretty wild that a 14-year-old starlet hugging and kissing her age-appropriate boyfriend turned into all this though.
In my group, most people had sex around age 16/17, but plenty had boyfriends or girlfriends and made out or fooled around or whatever around 14/15. Yes, we were often unsupervised, but nobody got pregnant, and ironically we were not into drugs or smoking or drinking at all. There were definitely kids at my school doing all those things, but they were a different crowd. We didn’t commit crimes, even though opportunity abounded, and we all cared deeply about our futures. I imagine that if we’d had social media and posted about all the things we did, the adults would all have clutched their pearls and fainted, conveniently forgetting their own teenage years. This has all happened before, people just didn’t get to see it play out in real time through the internet.
I’m in my thirties, and I knew people who were having sex even around middle school age. Not common, no, but it happens. There’s a careful line between controlling your children’s lives and supervision. Teenagers have always had sex, and they’ll figure out ways around the rules if they have to. My grandmother was married by eighteen. She knew people who were married even younger than that. The discussion around it has just become more socially liberal.
This being said, kissing and snuggling at age 14 does not necessarily mean you’re having sex.
I kissed my boyfriend at 14 (and a few other boys after that) and didn’t have sex till I was 18. But people with wild imaginations will assume that means they are having sex, just because a lot of 14 year olds do. I’m not stupid and I know it happens, but I’m never going to assume that just because a girl is kissing her boyfriend, they are sleeping together.
This! It’s always assumed that if someone is dating that they are having sex. I’ve dated plenty of guys I never slept with but it didn’t stop the assumptions. Hell, as someone who always had tons of male friends in my circle, if they were seen driving me home or if they offered to take me to lunch, etc, it would get the tongues wagging. It’s annoying. Especially when some of the men on the outside looking in would take it to mean that I was “easy” or “slutty” because they were so sure I was sleeping with all of these guys based on just being seen with a member of the opposite sex. Their assumptions were enough to make them bold enough to step to me in extremely presumptuous, disrespectful and vulgar ways. I’ve had to put more than a few in their place for being so disgusting.
ITA. Another reason why people make that assumption is because of inaccurate ideas about how a teen- especially a girl- who has not had sex yet actually behaves. People conflate a lack of P& V action with being completely innocent, obedient, straight-laced, and angelic, so to them a teen who’s not having sex must look and act like a devout Evangelical Christian, JW, or Mennonite or something.
At least for me, as a teen there was a HUGE gulf between kissing and sex. There was a vast difference between them and the former definitely did not lead to the latter. Kissing was exciting and fun, but ultimately not a big deal. Sex was a Big Deal and a Serious Decision, something you did not do frivolously, unlike making out which was entirely frivolous and super fun.
Definitely and there are a lot of comments from people on this thread saying the same thing. I did everything short of sex when I was 14 then waited till I was in a secure relationship at 21 to have sex. I’m really glad I waited because emotionally, I knew that I wasn’t ready for it at 14-15.
Of course it is possible they are having sex, but I would never automatically assume that.
Millie really brings out the protective big sister in me, her family gives a really shady impression and the fact that they seem intent on making her seem older than she is worries me. Is there a responsible adult in her life who doesn’t view her as a meal ticket?
I hope she’s using protection. My concern is her family relying on her financially. I hope that she will grow up strong, healthy and happy.
When did kissing get conflated with making out? Making out can include kissing, but not all kissing is automatically making out. (As I dust off the mental cobwebs of my teenage memories.)
I have no problems with a 14- and 15-year-old kissing — and most likely with at least one other person present. Why is that a big deal? They aren’t having sex. Their hands are in photo-appropriate “first base” locations. This is sweet, not creepy.
We all want kids to make good, safe decisions about their bodies and their sexuality, but policing an innocent kiss because of what they may or may not be doing when a camera isn’t present?
Tell me about it. I often end up feeling like people’s knowledge of her family’s financial situation just ends up being used as an excuse to sh-t on everything this girl does, whether it’s wearing too much black or having a first bf or doing pretty much anything that’s normal for kids her age, under the guise of ~I’m so concerned she is growing up too fast what a Lohan trainwreck in the making!~ Meanwhile, her male kid actor costars don’t get anywhere near that kind of pearl-clutching if they mention having kissed girls.
Bad parents can screw up child actors but no one wants to mention that public scrutiny and pressure has a role in it too….the exact kind that we’re engaging in here. Basically, we’re not her parents and I really think Internet commenters should let the girl live.
“Bad parents can screw up child actors but no one wants to mention that public scrutiny and pressure has a role in it too.” BOOM! Powerful truth bomb you just dropped there. But a lot of times this is glossed over in favor of passing the buck (or relying on violent fanfiction and conspiracy theories) instead of acknowledging that the way that we treat girls in the public eye is harmful. “Girls’ parents should just keep them out of Hollywood then!’ “Well maybe young females in the public eye should just comply with respectability politics then! That’s what those ‘rules’ are for- to keep everyday folks like me from using modern technology to be animalistic.” “See what happens when girls are allowed too much freedom?”
Yes I 100% agree with you and it’s why I usually avoid the Millie threads: so much concern-trolling and people dooming her to a troubled existence and a failed career because of her parents’ actions. She really does get an inordinate amount of unfair scrutiny that her male peers don’t seem to get.
@kitten: And you just know that if anything ever does go wrong with her, it will automatically be spun into a ‘See what happens when spoiled girls disobey?’ tale.
Some people really need to rethink their views on teenagers and teen romance/sexuality tbqh. 14 is a perfectly normal age to be experiencing things like first boyfriends and kissing (and people forget that kissing someone doesn’t automatically = activities for which you need protection, especially at that age). It’s also perfectly normal to NOT be experiencing it, that’s just how adolescence is.
And to everyone who claims this is part of her stage parents’ plans and she’s ~growing up too fast~” – please. This may well be one of the few “normal teenager” things she gets to experience.
Also a very good point.
I think my parents would have died if I had a boyfriend at 14, let alone posted kissing pictures on social media. I, like Arianna, was not allowed out past 10pm until I was like 20 years old. It creeps me out when kids that young are in ‘relationships’ and loooove each other. Ugh.
I remember 14 very well and I can tell you that kissing in the moonlight (without tongue) is tame to what me and my friends were getting up to in the romance department at that age. And it wasn’t just romance, we were headed down the wrong path and thankfully by the time most of us hit 17 we had straightened that shit out, never ended up pregnant and never ended up dead like some did.
Why would anyone take advice from AG in the first place.
He has baby face. So thats a no.
Being on your own is painful but a necessary thing to do, either now or later. So I am all for the ban till youre older before dating without any regret. You’re not fully aware of yourself or your thoughts, feelings, identitiy etc at younger ages- you need to define what you will do (and not!!) which determines your future in your late teens and early 20s. Enough people are not even self aware in their 30s, 40, … sometimes just never…. You have to learn how-to, and about yourself in a relationship– even if its a “play house” one– because not necessarily the first try will be the best try., so thats the only use I can imagine it having. Eventually though something right will come along, and it will put all of that kiddie play to shame. There’s no need for such nonsense- it isnt anything like a real relationship in the long run.
Now I’ll go take my fiber and apply my vapor rub.
I recently watched a documentary/news story about how youth are dating later and having sex much later…all due to the fact they don’t have good social skills. It is being said the internet has made youth less social and more awkward. They don’t know how to talk with people “in real life”. They may have “on-line” relationships but most of those don’t end up being “real life” ones. The pregnancy rate is down but STD’s are up…not sure how to explain that one though.
Everything I’ve heard about this Jacob kid makes him sound like an entitled dweeb. He’s really more of a YouTubed than singer. I don’t care about age appropriateness, but this thing has felt super showy and thirsty from the beginning. Sorry to be a cynic.
https://www.girlfriend.com.au/jacob-sartorius-has-cheated-on-millie-bobby-brown
This seems like completely normal behavior to me. I had my first kiss when I was 13 with my “boyfriend.” We “dated” for a couple of months, which meant we hung out with parents nearby and mostly did stuff like play video games and mostly with other friends. By the time I was 14 or 15, I had a boyfriend that was still puppy love, of course, and which wasn’t long-term, and we kissed a few times. And were not supervised all the time at all. We even had a kiss at dusk on a beach once. Big deal. All normal stuff. I don’t see this as “playing at adult relationships.” This is completely normal.
Millie will be Lohan 2.0.
Isn’t that a bit harsh of a comment? It’s not like she’s partying every night of the week in clubs with drug addicts and fame whores. I watched both seasons but don’t follow the Stranger cast’s news closely, so I don’t know about her personal life or work ethics but she’s far from being similar to Lindsay Lohan.
Literally every young female gets labelled The Next Lindsay Lohan for not looking or acting like a nun. (Poor little Blue Ivy hasn’t even had to grow into a respectability politics-bucking teen or twenty-something in order to get the Lilo label though. We ALL know why that is). Sex-negative misogynists lack imagination. Calling them ‘Lindsay Lohan’ or any of the other nasty euphemisms for ‘mentally ill, damaged, and evil woman’-in this case, all because a girl kissed a boy and wears cute dresses while looking older than she does- goes back to gender-essentialist conservative myths about a female’s chastity being the key to her mental health. This is the same shit that has gotten used to force virginity tests on women- among other things.
Aw they’re just teenagers being teenagers doing what most if not all teenagers do, I say let them be. I was kissing boys (well not boys just one young man) when I was 14, it’s harmless. Maybe everyone should start seeing her under a different eye, she’s a teen now and not 12 years old anymore.
This child is oversexualized and undersupervised.