Millie Bobby Brown has admitted that childhood fame led to her missing out on “a few things.”
The Stranger Things star was only 11 years old when she was aptly cast as Eleven, the human science experiment bestowed with telekinetic powers, and while the 20-year-old is now a married woman, she feels her early stardom prompted some arrested development.
“I don’t have many friends, because of who I am,” Millie told Vanity Fair for a cover story published on Wednesday. “I didn’t go to school, so I don’t have the best social skills when it comes to people my own age and friendships. I struggle with that quite a bit.”
She continued: “I missed out on a few things. But I’m working through them.”
Child stardom has certainly had a negative impact on untold celebrities over the decades. And like those before her, the British actor has had to navigate much of her life in the public eye, with trivial confessions about not being the most avid movie watcher leading to criticism against her on social media or innocent selfies prompting backlash about her looks.
Elsewhere in her Vanity Fair interview, Millie discussed being intentional about allowing people to get to know her.
“I don’t allow many people into my life, and when I do, I think it should be super moderated,” she said. “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.”
Millie also talked about getting married to Jake Bongiovi, son of rock star Jon Bon Jovi. The pair tied the knot last May after three years of dating, and they’ve since moved onto a farm in Georgia where Millie spends much of her time feeding a baby goat and fostering dogs.
“We were pretty united going into it,” the actor told Vanity Fair. “We talked about our political views, what kind of family we want to build, the kind of home we want to live in, the kind of relationship we’re looking for, the kind of careers we want.”
“It’s such an important decision, and we wanted to make sure we were making the right one,” she continued. “I knew I was. It always felt right with him.”