I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I am apparently in the minority in my excitement about the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. I keep hearing the same opinion: it’s been too long since season four to care. I refuse to let my enthusiasm be stifled, though! I just really want to know how the story ends. I’m also into all of the press.
This brings me to Millie Bobby Brown’s December British Vogue cover. Stranger Things was Millie’s big debut back when she was 12. She’s now 21, married, and a new mother to an adopted baby girl. It’s a lengthy interview that you can read in full at the source, Highlights include her thoughts about ST ending, her response to public criticism, and life since becoming a parent for the first time a few months ago.
Her feelings about Stranger Things ending: “It’s like a death of someone you love. I was 10 when I started, so this is like a family to me; not just the cast, not just the crew, but the entity of Stranger Things.”
On adopting: “I really want a big family – I’m one of four; he’s one of four. I don’t see having your own child, you know, as really any different [than] adopting.”
Parenthood: “It’s been a beautiful, amazing journey – she’s taught us so much already. Perspective is a huge thing. The smaller things in life are so much more precious. Our days are filled with lots of cuddles and laughter and love. It’s just endless joy.” Who’s on nappy duty most? “We are 50-50 on everything. That’s why I’m so grateful to have partnered with him in this life – he is just the most amazing dad.”
Eleven was her destiny: “I don’t think I realised how much rejection was waiting for me,” Brown says. A casting director told her she would never make it; she was “too mature” for the screen. Crushed, she decided to quit but tried out for one last show, which was – you guessed it – Stranger Things. When she flew out with her father for the final audition, she found herself visited by mystical portents. “I sat on row 11 of the plane, seat 11… Then we got to the hotel, they put us on the 11th floor. It was all very – for me, anyway – still very strange.” She got the role the day she was due to fly home.
Sabrina Carpenter gave her a pep talk after people hated her blonde hair: “I was depressed for three, four days. I was crying every day,” Brown says. When she went to London to present an award to Sabrina Carpenter at the Brit Awards, “I was crying while I was getting my hair and make-up done. I was even welling up when I saw her backstage.” The “Manchild” singer…hugged her and issued some much-needed advice: “Truly, always, her mentality is very much like ‘Fuck ’em’, which I knew inside of me, but when you hear someone else say it, you’re like, ‘Yes! That’s it!’…If me being blonde or wearing more make-up really bothers you, I’m going to address it – not just for myself, but for every other girl who wants to try a new hairstyle or wear a red lip. It’s, like, get off my fucking case, you know? I am 21. I am going to have fun and play and be myself.”
On protecting her daughter’s privacy: “For me, it’s really important to protect her and her story until she’s old enough to potentially one day share it herself. It’s not my place to purposefully put her in the spotlight unwillingly. If she chooses to share her personality one day with the world, like I did when I was young, that’s something we’d support. But right now, as she’s so little…” She pauses. “As her parents, it’s our job to protect her from that.” In fact, there are no plans to even disclose her name until “she’s ready to decide for herself”.
I really respect the lengths that Millie and Jake are going through to protect their daughter. Millie’s quote was a response to being asked to describe Baby Bongiovi’s personality. It’s never lost on me that the celebrities that go to such lengths to protect their private lives and their children’s private lives are almost always the former child stars who were harassed by paparazzi and tabloids themselves. They understand the assignment that many of their own parents either did not or were ill-prepared to handle (for a variety of different reasons). It sounds like despite being young parents, they’re handling it well. I’m sure having unlimited resources and support from their parents is also a huge factor, too.
The story about Sabrina Carpenter telling her to ignore the blonde hair criticism makes me like Sabrina a lot more. I love hearing stories about female stars supporting one another! I know Sabrina has gone through it on several different fronts, so it’s nice to hear that she’s got a healthy mindset about it all. As for the whole seeing the number 11 thing as she was on her way to play a character named “Eleven,” I had to admit that as both a ‘numbers’ and a Universe person, I love that story.