Millie Bobby Brown became a household name overnight with her role as Eleven on Netflix’s hit series, "Stranger Things."
But the 19-year-old is more than ready to say goodbye to the franchise and move on with her life.
In a new interview with Glamour (conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike), Brown compared the final season to the final year of high school.
"When you’re ready, you’re like, ‘All right, let’s do this. Let’s tackle this last senior year. Let’s get out of here,’" she said.
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Brown credits the show with giving her "the tools and the resources to be a better actor," but she is ready for her next chapter.
"'Stranger Things' takes up a lot of time to film, and it’s preventing me from creating stories that I’m passionate about. So, I’m ready to say, ‘Thank you and goodbye.’"
She added that she isn’t saying goodbye forever to her castmates.
"When it ends, I’m going to be able to still see these people," Brown said.
"Stranger Things" marked the English actress’s big break when she was just 12 years old, and she admits she struggled through interviews and public appearances in which she was deemed "too loud."
"We’re kids, we talk over each other," Brown reflected. "I was just penalized for overtalking and oversharing and being too loud."
She also remembered being accused of "trying to steal the thunder" of her castmates and adults calling 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.’"
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"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."
Brown’s experience makes her protective of other child actors, criticizing the intense scrutiny she and others have borne.
"You cannot speak on children that are underage," Brown 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?’"
The "Enola Holmes" star is secure in one thing, which is her engagement to Jake Bongiovi, son of Jon Bon Jovi.
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"It’s like – I know I should make this movie now. I know I should write this book now. I know I should do this now," she said of trusting herself about the relationship.
"It’s not because I can’t do it in 10 years; of course I can do it in 10 years," she continued. "But why, when I know that it’s going to work now? Just like Florence will be there in 10 years. You’ll be able to see my movie in 10 years on TV. And I know that Jake and I will be OK."
"It’s like, why wait? Let’s go for it."
Brown also addressed those who criticized their desire to marry at such a young age, noting that both sets of parents married at a young age and have stayed together.
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"We were modeled wonderful, loving relationships," she said. "So, it’s something that we both had that mutual drive for."
She added, "His family were so wonderfully accepting of me and embraced me, and it’s so nice to find a second family in that."
Brown and Bongiovi went public with their relationship in March 2022 and announced their engagement via Instagram in April.
The "Stranger Things" star feels supported by Bongiovi after previously having been "afraid to be a strong woman in a relationship."
"When I met Jake, I just felt I could be loud. He embraced that and encouraged that. And I fell in love with myself while being with him," she said.
She recalled asking him why he loved her, and he "listed all these things that I hated about myself. I was like, ‘You see good in those things?’ And he was like, ‘Of course I do.’"
"Those are things that I love about myself now," she continued. "He was a really big, huge part of me loving myself and becoming a woman. It was like, ‘Wow, I really love this person because he allows me to love myself.’"
Brown admitted she didn’t think she’d plan a wedding so young, but she did know her "dream was to have a baby."
"I wanted to be the woman that my mom is to me and I wanted to be the woman that my grandmother was to me," Brown said. "So, that was never my, like, intention to be a wife. But after meeting Jake and seeing, ‘Oh, I don't have to be this stereotypical wife for him. He doesn’t want me to be that either. He wants me to go and do my thing and live my life, and he will hold my hand in the process of that.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I do want this.’"
Brown has an upcoming movie with Chris Pratt, "The Electric State," and a debut novel out now, "Nineteen Steps."
