I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I am apparently in the minority in my excitement about the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. I keep hearing the same opinion: it’s been too long since season four to care. I refuse to let my enthusiasm be stifled, though! I just really want to know how the story ends. I’m also into all of the press.
This brings me to Millie Bobby Brown’s December British Vogue cover. Stranger Things was Millie’s big debut back when she was 12. She’s now 21, married, and a new mother to an adopted baby girl. It’s a lengthy interview that you can read in full at the source, Highlights include her thoughts about ST ending, her response to public criticism, and life since becoming a parent for the first time a few months ago.
Her feelings about Stranger Things ending: “It’s like a death of someone you love. I was 10 when I started, so this is like a family to me; not just the cast, not just the crew, but the entity of Stranger Things.”
On adopting: “I really want a big family – I’m one of four; he’s one of four. I don’t see having your own child, you know, as really any different [than] adopting.”
Parenthood: “It’s been a beautiful, amazing journey – she’s taught us so much already. Perspective is a huge thing. The smaller things in life are so much more precious. Our days are filled with lots of cuddles and laughter and love. It’s just endless joy.” Who’s on nappy duty most? “We are 50-50 on everything. That’s why I’m so grateful to have partnered with him in this life – he is just the most amazing dad.”
Eleven was her destiny: “I don’t think I realised how much rejection was waiting for me,” Brown says. A casting director told her she would never make it; she was “too mature” for the screen. Crushed, she decided to quit but tried out for one last show, which was – you guessed it – Stranger Things. When she flew out with her father for the final audition, she found herself visited by mystical portents. “I sat on row 11 of the plane, seat 11… Then we got to the hotel, they put us on the 11th floor. It was all very – for me, anyway – still very strange.” She got the role the day she was due to fly home.
Sabrina Carpenter gave her a pep talk after people hated her blonde hair: “I was depressed for three, four days. I was crying every day,” Brown says. When she went to London to present an award to Sabrina Carpenter at the Brit Awards, “I was crying while I was getting my hair and make-up done. I was even welling up when I saw her backstage.” The “Manchild” singer…hugged her and issued some much-needed advice: “Truly, always, her mentality is very much like ‘Fuck ’em’, which I knew inside of me, but when you hear someone else say it, you’re like, ‘Yes! That’s it!’…If me being blonde or wearing more make-up really bothers you, I’m going to address it – not just for myself, but for every other girl who wants to try a new hairstyle or wear a red lip. It’s, like, get off my fucking case, you know? I am 21. I am going to have fun and play and be myself.”
On protecting her daughter’s privacy: “For me, it’s really important to protect her and her story until she’s old enough to potentially one day share it herself. It’s not my place to purposefully put her in the spotlight unwillingly. If she chooses to share her personality one day with the world, like I did when I was young, that’s something we’d support. But right now, as she’s so little…” She pauses. “As her parents, it’s our job to protect her from that.” In fact, there are no plans to even disclose her name until “she’s ready to decide for herself”.
I really respect the lengths that Millie and Jake are going through to protect their daughter. Millie’s quote was a response to being asked to describe Baby Bongiovi’s personality. It’s never lost on me that the celebrities that go to such lengths to protect their private lives and their children’s private lives are almost always the former child stars who were harassed by paparazzi and tabloids themselves. They understand the assignment that many of their own parents either did not or were ill-prepared to handle (for a variety of different reasons). It sounds like despite being young parents, they’re handling it well. I’m sure having unlimited resources and support from their parents is also a huge factor, too.
The story about Sabrina Carpenter telling her to ignore the blonde hair criticism makes me like Sabrina a lot more. I love hearing stories about female stars supporting one another! I know Sabrina has gone through it on several different fronts, so it’s nice to hear that she’s got a healthy mindset about it all. As for the whole seeing the number 11 thing as she was on her way to play a character named “Eleven,” I had to admit that as both a ‘numbers’ and a Universe person, I love that story.
I’m caught up on a 10 year old being told she was too mature looking.
I didn’t read that as mature LOOKING, but her vibes. She wasn’t giving “little kid,” but rather a sort of preternatural wiseness – which probably helped with why she knocked Eleven out of the park
Okay, that makes loads of sense. Thank you!
You are not alone: I just re-watched the four seasons and am impatiently waiting for the fifth, to see how the story ends. But as the promo tour kicks off, I find myself slightly shocked about rumors (most in the Daily Fail) about Harbour’s bullying of Millie while on the set. I have such an emotional connection to this show & characters that I don’t want to imagine a context in which these people are abusive or even mean to each other.
She is only 21. I have known couples who have waited up to 4 years for their name to get to top of list.
More than likely they did a private adoption which means no lists.
Apparently one of the reasons celebrities don’t wait as long because they are more willing to to accept babies that are not newborns and also ones where the parents may have been drinking, using drugs, or have other health concerns. They also often adopt mixed race kids. They see themselves as having the resources to deal with any issues that may come up.
I would kill for that red cabled dress.
As a knitter, it looks like they knit the dress and then sewed on i-cord to create the cables. In case you were thinking of making one.
It’s such a gorgeous dress and it looks amazing on her.
She became famous so young and I was always worried about her because of the stories of her very stage manage-y parents. She’s young so she’s experimenting with make up and different hair (the blonde hair was unfortunately not great on her, it washed her out and she doesn’t have the skin tone to pull it off). Getting married so young and also having a baby — I wonder if this was accelerated by her controlling parents and she wanted to get away from them. But having a daughter to focus on may be what she needs to stay away from the usual temptations that usually beleaguer child stars as they grow up (substance abuse, addiction, losing money etc.). She sounds very happy and focused as a new mom and I hope she and Bon Jovi’s son make it! It sounds like Jake grew up well adjusted despite having a super famous dad.