Millie Bobby Brown opens up about online hate and healing in Sept. issue of Allure
Being admired by millions of fans hasn’t been easy for Millie Bobby Brown. Since the first season of Stranger Things, at only 12, the fame has come with inevitable scrutiny and harassment online.
In an interview with Allure for their September 2022 cover story, Brown shared her struggles with social media and incessant cyberbullying. She revealed that she's had to endure constant derogatory remarks and threats online for years and has been inappropriately sexualized by adult males who send her NSFW messages. Millie admitted that she struggled trying to just "be herself" while dealing with so much online hate.
“It’s really hard to be hated on when you don’t know who you are yet. So it’s like, ‘What do they hate about me? ’Cause I don’t know who I am,” Brown told Allure.
The 18-year old Stranger Things star said she also felt out of control and powerless when she had an "unhealthy" relationship with Hunter Ecimovic, her Tiktoker ex-boyfriend, who made demeaning claims about Brown during a live stream.
“It was a year of healing. When you get publicly humiliated this way, I felt so out of control and powerless. Walking away and knowing that I’m worth everything and this person didn’t take anything from me, it felt very empowering. It felt like my life had finally turned a page and that I actually had ended a chapter that felt so f*cking long,” she told Allure.
The interview revealed that Millie no longer has social media accounts on her phone after going to therapy to handle the constant bullying she faced online. Now, someone handles her Facebook and Instagram and she only talks with her fans through blog posts on her own cosmetic website, Florence by Mills, which she likes because: “Nobody can comment.” She has also deleted her Twitter and TikTok accounts.
During the pandemic lockdown, Brown said she unleashed her creativity by recording an album, writing, and crafting, which she thinks has "no apparent use," but she really enjoys doing.
Speaking about conquering her traumas, Millie shared that she started to grow more with the support of her family and friends. “It helped to be able to understand that I don’t need to be anything they said that I need to be. I just have to develop within myself. That’s what I did. That’s what I’m doing,” Brown said.
Florence by Mills, her cosmetics line, is rapidly becoming a global name. Brown also continues to serve as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, focusing on menstruation health and education for young women.
“Young girls deserve an education. Young people everywhere deserve equal rights. [You] deserve to love the people that you want to love. Be the people that you want to be and achieve the dreams that you want to achieve. That’s my message,” Brown ended her interview.
Read the full interview of Millie Bobby Brown on Allure here.