Millie Bobby Brown still shops at Target and carefully considers large purchases


Millie Bobby Brown has been very visible lately, and it’s not just because of her new platinum blonde hair. Her movie with Chris Pratt, The Electric State, premiered on Netflix on March 14, which prompted the recent flurry of appearances, including covering the March issue of Vanity Fair. In that interview, Millie — who married Jake Bongiovi last May when she was 20 and he was 22 — talked about conversations she and Jake had when they got together. Things like making sure they were aligned on politics, values, and their career and family goals. It seems there’s one area, though, where they agreed to be opposites: money! On a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Millie shared how wildly different financial backgrounds have shaped their contrasting spending habits. While Jake grew up with Bon Jovi money, Millie’s family had very little before she landed Stranger Things. The experience left such an impact that to this day, Millie still shops for basics at Target and Amazon, and carefully considers large purchases.

Millie Bobby Brown still remembers what it was like to have financial insecurity.

The 21-year-old “grew up with no money” before receiving the life-changing call that she had been cast on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” In an appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Brown said that her upbringing has had a profound effect on how she thinks about her finances.

“I have a money thing where I’m very conscious about money,” she said. “When I do spend money on something, I have to call my parents, I have to think about it, I don’t just buy it right away.”

That’s not because money is in short supply. The “Electric State” star was reportedly earning $10 million per film as early as 2019 and has a “ridiculously lucrative” overall deal with Netflix, according to Puck.

But just because she has the money doesn’t mean she has champagne tastes. Compared to her husband Jake Bongiovi — son of musician Jon Bon Jovi — Brown said she is very thrifty.

“I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I need socks,’ and he’ll be like ‘Let’s go to Prada,’” she said. “And I’m like ‘Let’s go to Target.’”

“He loves to go shopping,” she continued. “He will refuse to pack a suitcase because he likes to go shopping in the place we’re going. Whereas I like Amazon Basics. I love that.”

Indeed, when Brown wanted to make her first big purchase with her Netflix earnings, she said she needed her parents to encourage her to take the plunge and buy the Chanel sunglasses she had her eye on.

…Brown’s strategy of waiting before making a big purchase is in line with advice from experts. To curb impulse shopping, finance podcaster Glen James recommends employing something called the 1% rule: if you want to make a purchase that’s larger than 1% of your gross annual income, wait at least a day before purchasing it.

The 24-hour cool down period gives you time to sit with your decision and determine if you really want the item.

[From CNBC]

Was I laughing at baby-faced Jake saying, “Let’s go to Prada!” for socks? You bet. Though I’m sure my feet would probably cry out “What have you been doing to us all these years?!” the day I ever get so lucky to don a pair of designer socks, I still say Jake’s lucky to have Millie around to knock some sense into educate him. And I’m not at all surprised their respective financial backgrounds have stuck with them. Kids know their home money situation. My mother and aunt are seven years apart, and they’ve talked to each other a lot about how different each of their childhoods were based on changes in my grandparents’ income. For my part, growing up I always took note of the postcard affixed to our refrigerator that said, “Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination.” So I love it when people (especially women!) talk about money, and will definitely file away that practical tip about waiting a day on a purchase that’s 1% of my gross income. And I’ll pay it forward with a bit of advice that was transformative for me: if you can, try to put 10% of your paycheck into savings. It adds up!

PS — Wait, did Millie really just reveal that Jake basically buys a new wardrobe for each trip? Oh-oh, livin’ on… dad’s royalties.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Smart Pictures/Avalon, Oscar Gonzalez/Wenn/Avalon, IMAGO/Barbara Hine/Avalon, Backgrid

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

27 Responses to “Millie Bobby Brown still shops at Target and carefully considers large purchases”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Karmaflower says:

    I’m not a fan of these two. I’m sure they don’t care. Lol

  2. BlueSky says:

    I have a cuisinart bread maker sitting in a cart for about 2 days now so I can relate. 😂

  3. sevenblue says:

    It shows that her husband cares about his clothes. I am happy for her he isn’t wearing some sweats while she is dressed for red carpet. Growing up with not much money to spend on luxury really affects your whole life. Either you go spending all of your money on unnecessary things or you can’t spend at all. It is nice that they are opposites, so they can maintain the middle ground. For me, it took a long time to see money as something you can enjoy and not just save for bad times.

    • Becky says:

      No it doesn’t, it shows he is spoiled and irresponsible. They aren’t talking about red carpets they are talking about basics of life, and trust me Prada is not using the best materials for their socks they are slapping their logo on normal socks and upping the price.

      This kid is showing he has no regard for her earnings, their financial security or frankly the environment. How vile and wasteful do you have to be to buy a new wardrobe everywhere you go. He is lucky to have her because without her thinking about these things he’d be living on the corner of 5th and 23rd street with some overpriced socks in a few years.

      I love fashion, I am a buyer for those luxury brands this stupid boy is obsessed with and I can tell you that the only industry doing more damage to the planet is the oil industry and people like him are a massive contributor to the destruction of the planet.

      • sevenblue says:

        @Becky, honestly him spending money on expensive socks or clothes didn’t mean much to me. He has grown up as a rich kid. He isn’t burning money on private jets or stupid cars. His father has hundreds of millions. I am sure he won’t go broke due to shopping. Some people are obsessed with clothes, he sounds like one. Why would he spend his wife’s money on it? I am sure he got his own money through his family. We also didn’t see him throwing out money like a spoiled rich kid at clubs or parties. Who cares if he likes shopping? He isn’t spending my money. If he has a problem, his family would cut him out 🤷‍♀️

      • FYI says:

        Agree with Becky. People DO go broke on shopping. See: Zolciak, Kim.
        He grew up rich, yeah, but not even packing clothes because you’re gonna shop when you get there? That is irresponsible and very wasteful.
        Anyway it isn’t HIS earnings he’s “enjoying,” it’s what other people earned that he is now using. Def comes off as icky.

      • No name says:

        People go broke shopping all the time, and the environmental impact from shopping is actually greater than private jets. Like Becky said! But excessive spending is the most common way people go broke, and it isn’t the socks if that was all he was doing no big deal. He’s buying an entire new wardrobe vs packing. That is gross and irresponsible.

        It shows his parents did a poor job raising him and teaching him the value of a dollar, and the importance valuing what you have. This story makes him sound gross.

    • J Wms says:

      This 💯%.

  4. Tate says:

    Don’t shop at Target. Costco is it for my household.

  5. FancyPants says:

    People forget that getting paid $10 milliion for one movie doesn’t guarantee that you’ll ever get paid $1 for anything ever again. And while ten million is a lot of money for us peasants, it evaporates faster than we think with all the agents and stylists and everybody else movie stars have to pay out of it. I do the “think about it” approach too, for purchases large and small, and fortunately there aren’t a lot of things I still want after they spend a week in my online cart.

  6. Giddy says:

    My Dad had a great comment if I ever said something was a bargain because it was on sale…You can go broke saving money. 💰

  7. Tulipworthy says:

    I agree with her financial decisions.

  8. Steph says:

    Does he work? I they have a prenup and separate finances. I’m not saying either of them are bad people. But they got married so young, there’s a real likelihood they won’t last and I want her to keep her money is don’t.

    • Granger says:

      I was wondering the same thing. What does he do for a living? Has he ever had a job? His parents come from working-class backgrounds, so I assume he’s learned some good lessons in life; but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s never REALLY had to work hard. And unless his parents don’t plan on leaving money to their kids — he certainly won’t have to worry about his retirement years, which is a game-changer because it means you can experiment a little more with career choices, and make more mistakes, knowing you always have a fall-back plan.

      I hope they have a pre-nup. She has worked very hard for everything she has and she doesn’t deserve to lose it to a rich kid.

      • North of Boston says:

        A modest retirement (like enough for a safe roof over my head, enough money to cover regular essentials (food, heat, clothes on my back) and healthcare expenses for whatever may come … if I knew those 2 things were covered, life would be much much different – less stress, less uncertainty. And I would make very different choices, because I could take a risk that might pay off or do something i love because I know I can get by now and will be okay later.

        I’m pretty sure MBB’s BJV husband has got that safety net.

    • sevenblue says:

      He got some imdb credits and I think he did some modeling work. His family got a lot of money, probably both of the families would request prenup.

    • og bella says:

      While I don’t disagree about the marrying very young and the odds being against them, I have to say that I am surrounded by the opposite!

      I didn’t get married until I was 35, so I’m not advocating for getting married at 21, but in my wedding party alone, there were 4 couples that got married that young and still going strong (25-30 years and counting). My husband has two other couples that he’s been friends with from high school (early 80s) still married. I have 7 friends from high school who all married either right out of HS or college and are still married. My mother was 19 and father was 24 and they are celebrating 60 years!

      I’m in the NY/NJ area so this is not the norm, but it’s still very doable!

  9. og bella says:

    My splurge socks are bombas!! They are fantastic!

    • Kitten says:

      Literally just bought a new pack because my old ones have holes in them lol. Bombas are the gold standard IMO.

  10. EmilyLaProfa says:

    Her styling makes her look old. Sorry I know she’s young. But the thumbnail on the main page – I thought she was Kim Cattrall!

    • NotSoSocialB says:

      That’s insulting to Kim Cattrall bc she’s in her mid 60s at least!!

      Millie looks like a truck stop waitress with that brassy awful hair. She’d look great as a honey blonde, but also looks great in her brunette hair.

  11. Thinking says:

    I would have thought his dad might have let him know about how less wealthy people live.

    I think it’s good she’s educating him haha. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Prada socks but if Target socks can do the same thing, you might as well get those.

    I know he has his family’s money, but if she’s smart about her money and he’s not I wonder if they’ll grow apart later on. Generational wealth is pretty easy to blow if it’s not handled correctly.

  12. Gisby says:

    This is s serious question, not a slam: What has she done to her face? Was she in a car wreck?

    • Grant says:

      People keep saying this but I don’t think she looks very different besides styling. She certainly doesn’t look like she was in a car wreck to me. Her character on Stranger Things is very glammed down and she happens to like big hair and lots of makeup in real life.

    • Aurora says:

      Tbh, I think she’s only had her lips done. The kind of (ghastly, to my taste) makeup she seems to like is what distorts her face.