Millie Bobby Brown speaks about the challenges of achieving fame at a young age in new interview

Millie Bobby Brown was 11 years old when she first played Eleven in Stranger Things, the Netflix series that catapulted her fame to new heights. With the show ending in season 5 and the cast wrapping up its filming on December 20, 2024, Brown revisited the role that she has been playing for nearly a decade and the downsides of the fame that came with it.

In a cover story for Vanity Fair, released on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Millie Bobby Brown talked about the experience of child stardom and why she prefers to keep her circle small. She said:

"I don't allow many people into my life, and when I do, I think it should be super moderated. I started this really young, and I felt that the press specifically was very, very harsh on me. And so I just like to make sure that I'm advocating for myself."

She also shared how filming for Stranger Things and being on set during her formative years had affected her life, especially her "social skills." While the actress admitted to being an extrovert, she said that she struggled to connect with people, even those her own age, like her co-stars.

Millie Bobby Brown explained that she didn't have the best social skills because she was schooled privately on set. The Enola Holmes star also noted that she still "struggle[s]" with it a bit but she's "working through them."

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"I never wanted to be famous"—Millie Bobby Brown gets candid about fame

Millie Bobby Brown has had incidences of her privacy invaded, a major downside of being famous. During the interview with Vanity Fair, she remembered a paparazzo sneaking into a closed set of a fashion shoot that she was doing in Australia when she was 13 years old and taking pictures of her.

The pictures were published the next day, and recalling the incident, Millie Bobby Brown insisted that there should be "more laws with the media" to prevent the same from happening.

As her popularity surged and after the succes of her projects, she experienced invasion of privacy, but according to her, she told Vanity Fair never wanted fame in the first place.

"I never wanted to be famous. That was never my thing. I just love acting."

One such example of a private matter being leaked online was the contracts she signed as a child. She said those things "should have been protected," because contracts for young stars to be made public like that can put them in a "really dangerous situation."

Millie Bobby Brown noted that people are "a little bit too lax" on how kids are brought into the industry. However, she added that she's thankful that she had people to protect her, like her parents and Netflix, the streaming home for Stranger Things, Enola Holmes, and her upcoming film, The Electric State.

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Filming Stranger Things season 5 made Millie Bobby Brown cry

Stranger Things is ending after its fifth season, and filming it had made Millie Bobby Brown cry. Production had started filming the final season as early as January 8, 2024, and after an 11-month schedule, the shooting officially wrapped up on December 20, 2024.

Describing herself as a "really emotional person," she said she tried to "stay super strong" while filming the final season of Stranger Things, but at one point, she couldn't hold the waterworks. She said:

"It wasn't hitting me this entire time—until yesterday. I was on set, and I was like, 'Well, I have one more day left.' And I started crying."

She added that for someone who doesn't like crying at work, it made her feel "so uncomfortable," but her husband, Jake Bongiovi, was there to support her and tell her that she needed to get her feelings out.

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When is Stranger Things season 5 expected to release?

While there is no official release date for Stranger Things season 5 yet, it is likely to release in 2025. And per Matt and Ross Duffer, editing of season 5 is even ahead of schedule and could see an earlier release than first anticipated. Ross Duffer shared the update with the audience at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, via Variety on February 10, 2025:

"We're focused on visual effects sequences right now, which started back in January. It's going well. We're actually ahead of schedule, which is rare for us."

Matt Duffer added that they are "definitely on target" and Stranger Things season 5 is coming before 2025 ends.

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