A treasure trove of talent, Millie Bobby Brown became a household name after the resounding success of Stranger Things. With two Emmy nominations in her arsenal, she received a lot of love and appreciation from fans and critics alike. At only 18 years old, Brown is one of the most popular actresses in the world. In fact, her fame increases by the second. With all the good things that come with being in the public eye, sometimes we forget about the darkness that accompanies it. Sadly, even the extremely young Brown is no stranger to the internet malice and bullying. 

Millie Bobby Brown quit social media to avoid the internet hate

Her overnight stardom meant that Brown barely had any privacy. The Stranger Things actor can step out anywhere without her security, not even for Christmas shopping! Moreover, as advantageous as social media is, it has an extremely ugly flip side. The British actress faced constant trolling, unnecessarily hateful messages, malicious threats, inappropriate s**ual advances, and countless NSFW messages and pictures.

Unsurprisingly, the negativity took a major toll on the young star, who had to turn to therapy to deal with the negative attention. So much so that Brown has deleted all social media apps off her phone. She has even deactivated her Twitter and TikTok accounts. While her Instagram and Facebook pages are still active, she has her PR team handle those. “It’s really hard to be hated on when you don’t know who you are yet,” shared Millie in her interview with Allure.

Millie learns to own who she is

She constantly tried to change herself in an attempt to avoid all the hate. But no matter what she did, there was no running away from all the vitriol. And for what? Just being herself. Luckily, therapy and support from her friends and family helped Brown grow and embrace herself. It helped her to understand that she doesn’t need to be anything they said she needs to be. She realized all she needed to do was “develop within myself.”

Today, the only way Millie interacts with her fans is through blog post entries on the Florence by Mills website. Since “nobody can comment” on the website, it is a safe space for her. Named after her great-grandmother, Florence by Mills is Millie’s beauty label specifically for young consumers.

The anonymity on the internet has uncovered a truly grotesque face of humanity. One can only hope that things get better with time. Thankfully, the healing process has begun for our beloved Millie. In the meantime, let us re-watch Stranger Things and get lost in her incredible performance as the telekinetic teen.