The "Stranger Things" actress gets candid in a new cover story for 'Allure.'
Millie Bobby Brown is speaking her piece and taking back her power. In a new cover story interview for Allure, the Stranger Things actress opens up about saying goodbye to social media and recovering from the trauma of a connection that left her "publicly humiliated."
Prior to her current relationship with Jake Bongiovi, Brown says she was involved in an "unhealthy situation" with TikTok personality Hunter Ecimovic. "I felt very vulnerable," she tells the magazine of her decision to walk away from Ecimovic in January 2021, channeling those feelings into her deeply moving performances as Eleven opposite Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Papa (Matthew Modine) in season 4 of Stranger Things.
"No one on the set knew I was going through this. So it was kind of nice to be able to just deal with that myself and no one else knew," she says. "Then it was harder when the whole world knew."
Months later, in July 2021, Ecimovic went live on social media to put forth shocking, vulgar and harmful claims about the star, alleging that the two were engaged in a sexual relationship when Brown was a minor. He also claimed to have "groomed" and manipulated Brown.
The actress' camp swiftly and vehemently denied the claims.
"Mr. Ecimovic's remarks on social media are not only dishonest, but also are irresponsible, offensive and hateful," her reps said in a statement at the time. "Instead of engaging in a public discourse with him through the press or on social media, we are taking action to ensure that he stops this behavior once and for all."
Today, Brown refers to Ecimovic as simply a "blip."
"It was a year of healing," she tells Allure. "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***ing long.” She adds, “Ultimately, all I wanted to do within my career is help young girls and young people out there know that I, too, go through things. I’m not this perfect person that is selling skin-care products and [who is] in Stranger Things. I absolutely have made wrong decisions."
Helping other young women is at the heart of Brown's beauty brand, Florence by Mills, which she founded to offer resources for her fellow Gen Z-ers looking to learn more about skincare.
"I don’t know anything about beauty and skincare," she admits. “That’s why I created this. I’m going to take you on this journey with me, so we can learn more about botanicals, serums, fruit and vegetable extracts, enzymes. Things that are so important for your skin, but we don’t know about because we’re young. Everything’s antiaging, everything is depuffing. We don’t know what that means.”
She adds, “I need to know more. And I know our generation needs to know more."
Brown is also taking steps to take care of her mental health, combatting the bullying she has faced online since becoming a household name in 2016. In addition to therapy, she has deleted her TikTok and Twitter accounts while a member of her team manages her official Instagram and Facebook pages. She keeps no social media apps on her phone.
The only direct engagement Brown has with fans comes via personal blog posts on her Florence by Mills website. It works because, she says, "Nobody can comment."
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