Millie Bobby Brown was only 10 when she auditioned for the role of Jane “Eleven” Ives on the Netflix hit Stranger Things. However, seven years later, her fans can’t accept the fact that she’s not a little girl.
“I’m only 17, but at the end of the day, I’m learning to be a woman. I’m learning to be a young woman,” she told MTV News in a Wednesday video interview. “So being a young girl, people watch you grow up, right? And they’ve almost become invested in your growth and your journey. But they aren’t ready to accept the fact that you’re growing up.”
Brown noted that her fashion choices are often what upsets fans the most. “So I wear a crop top and people are like, ‘She’s 10.’ I’m like, ‘No…I am 17.’ That’s a thing that girls do,” the Godzilla vs. Kong star said. “Or I wear high heels. Or I wear an outfit to an award show and they’re like, ‘She looks 50.’ No, it’s because you’ve watched me since I was 10. That’s why you think that.”
“I think that’s what I found has been quite difficult: the transitioning period. They’re not accepting it and I’ve completely accepted it. You know, I’m ready. I’m like, ‘It’s been a while. Let me wear a high heel!’ I’m not going to be playing those young girls anymore and it’s kind of like, I have 50 million people like my parents,” she said. “My parents are like, ‘Yay! Thank God. You’re 17.’ Like, ‘Put on a pair of high heels. Let’s go!'”
In her newest flick, Brown reprises her role of Madison Russell (she also played the teen in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters).
It seems as though Brown often can’t win in the public eye. When she was 15, she was criticized on Instagram for posting photos of herself wearing blue eye makeup and curly hair, a look inspired by Jennifer Grey’s character in the film Dirty Dancing. “You’re 15. Stop,” wrote a commenter.
That year, the actress explained in a Harper’s Bazaar interview that she constantly battles comments about her appearance. “It’s always difficult to dress for a red carpet event because a lot of people have opinions and unfortunately you say you won’t listen to it, but you actually kind of have to,” she said. “For me, I sit there and think, I’m not going to listen to what they have to say, journalists or whoever wants to write badly about my inappropriate outfit.”
During the MTV interview, Brown elaborated on life in the spotlight. “I’ve struggled with anxiety and I’m learning to cope with it,” she said. “I meditate, I journal a lot, I take a lot of time for myself.”
But Brown is committed to forging her own path forward. “I don’t want anything to hold me back, which I think is the most important thing,” she told the outlet. “I want to evolve.”
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