Millie Bobby Brown Speaks Out About Unfair Treatment She Faced as a Young Actress

Published: July 14, 2026
Updated: July 15, 2026, 1:03 a.m. ET

What Is This Article About?

Imagine you are a kid on a famous TV show, and everyone is watching you. Now imagine people are much meaner to the girls than the boys. That is what happened to Millie Bobby Brown. She is a 22-year-old actress best known for Stranger Things and the Enola Holmes 3 movies. In a new interview, she talked about how the public (that means regular people and the news) treated her differently — and unfairly — compared to her male co-stars (the boys she worked with).

What Did Millie Say on the Podcast?

Millie spoke on the July 13 episode of the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast (a podcast is like a radio show you can listen to anytime). Here is what she shared:

• She said: "Women don’t win because we don’t get to win. We don’t get to just be in peace. It’s crazy scrutiny."
  • Scrutiny means people watching and judging you very closely.
• She grew up on a show with four boys. She is not saying the boys had it easy — they had their own stuff to deal with — but the girls felt way more pressure and judgment.
• She never saw headlines (news titles) about what the boys were wearing, how their hair looked, or what makeup they had on.
• The boys got nice headlines about their jobs and talents, and she agrees they are amazing and deserved that praise.
• But she said: "My headline shouldn’t be tearing me down – and other young girls down." She feels protective of girls entering the acting world.

Important Point: Millie says the criticism and pressure on her as a girl were far greater than what her male co-stars experienced. She is not throwing a "pity party" (feeling sorry for herself), but she does feel some resentment because she did not get the same fair treatment.

The Stranger Things Kids

Millie was not alone on the show. Here are the young stars she grew up with:

• Finn Wolfhard (23)
• Gaten Matarazzo (23)
• Caleb McLaughlin (24)
• Natalia Dyer (31)
• Noah Schnapp (21)
• Sadie Sink (24) and Priah Ferguson (19) joined in Season 2

At 15, Millie Was Called "A 60-Year-Old Woman"

Millie’s legal name is now Millie Bonnie Bongiovi (she married Jake Bongiovi in 2024). She shared some of the hurtful things said about her looks when she was a child star:

• At age 15, people said she looked like a 60-year-old woman and questioned her clothing choices.
• If she wore big heels, people said, "Who does she think she is?"
• If she wore a suit, people said she looked too old.
• She realized the critics were "walking contradictions" — they complained no matter what she did, like robots with no real opinion.

How She Protected Herself

After a big, upsetting event at age 17 (she did not share details), Millie deleted social media apps from her phone. In the past, she has said she felt "publicly humiliated" by an ex-boyfriend who shared private relationship details online and made accusations about her.

Even with all this, she says public perception (how people see her) "made me who I am today." Now she feels it is her life’s mission to protect young people in the industry from the same unfair treatment.

Summary

Millie Bobby Brown opened up about the double standards (different rules for different people) she faced growing up on Stranger Things. She says girls were judged way more harshly than boys — especially about looks — and she wants to protect the next generation of young actresses from that. Though she feels some resentment, she uses her experience to become a protector for others.

FAQ

1. What is a "double standard"?
It means treating one group (like girls) more harshly or differently than another group (like boys) in the same situation.

2. Why did Millie delete social media at 17?
Something big and upsetting happened to her, and she chose to remove the apps to protect her peace. She did not share exactly what happened.

3. What is Millie’s new legal name?
After marrying Jake Bongiovi in 2024, her legal name became Millie Bonnie Bongiovi.

4. Does Millie hate her male co-stars?
No. She says they had their own experiences and deserved praise for their work. She just wants the same fair treatment for girls.

5. What is she doing now to help?
She says it is her mission to protect young people in the entertainment industry from unfair public scrutiny.