Stranger Things Star Millie Bobby Brown Describes Hollywood’s Sexualising Of Child Actors As “Gross”
Actress Millie Bobby Brown, best known for her roles in Netflix’s Stranger Things and Legendary’s Godzilla vs Kong, recently denounced Hollywood’s overtly sexualising of child actors, describing the practice as “gross.”
Source: Enola Holmes (2020), Netflix
Speaking to how she balances her personal life with her professional life during a recent appearance on The Guilty Feminist podcast, Brown told host Deborah Frances-White, “I deal with the same things any 18-year-old is dealing with. Navigating being an adult and having relationships and friendships, and it’s all of those things.”
“Being liked and trying to fit in, it’s all a lot, and you’re trying to find yourself while doing that,” She added. “The only difference is that obviously I’m doing that in the public eye, so it can be really overwhelming.”
Brown then explained, “I have definitely been dealing with that more within the last couple weeks of turning 18…definitely seeing a difference between the way people act and the way the press and social media have reacted to me becoming of age,” alluding to the way she’s been treated by the film industry as a young woman.
“In my opinion I believe that [coming of age] shouldn’t change anything but it’s gross, and it’s true,” she asserted in regards to how Hollywood has treated her since her birthday. “So I think it’s just a very a good representation of what’s going on in the world and how young girls are sexualised. I have been dealing with that, but I have also been dealing with that for forever.”
Source: Stranger Things Season 4 (2020), Netflix
Reminiscing on a particular instance in which the young actress wanted to wear a slightly more revealing outfit to a red carpet event when she was 16 and was subsequently accused by the public of sexualising herself, Brown recalled, “I just got crucified for looking like a 60-year-old, and I thought, ‘My, is this really what we should be talking about?”
“We should be talking about the incredible people that were there at the award show, the talent that was there, the people we are representing,” she stated.
Brown also went on to declare that she is no longer posting personal information on social media, as she believes social media is “the worst place of all time” and prefers to use it only “as a place of fun.”
Source: Stranger Things Season 1 Episode 1 “The Vanishing of Will Byers” (2016), Netflix
“I’m not posting anything personal anymore,” Brown admitted. “You don’t get to see that part of me. You get to see the things I choose to put out in the world. I hope if there’s a 12-year-old that’s told Instagram that they’re 18, and they’ve created an account, they’re going onto my account and they’re not being exploited to the horrible world that’s out there.”
As of writing, Millie Bobby Brown has over 48 million followers on her personal Instagram account, which she has used to promote her upcoming films like Netflix crime drama Enola Holmes 2, her own line of beauty products, and occasionally do some left-wing activism by throwing support behind questionable organisations like The Conscious Kid and Black Lives Matter.
Source: Enola Holmes (2020), Netflix
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