Millie Bobby Brown Says Growing Up on ‘Stranger Things’ Affected Her “Social Skills”: “I Don’t Have Many Friends”

Millie Bobby Brown didn’t have a normal childhood, and she’s getting candid about how being in the spotlight as a young star still affects her.

In Vanity Fair‘s latest cover story, published on Wednesday, Brown reflects on working on Netflix’s Stranger Things since she was 11 and how it impacted her. Specifically, she mentioned that shooting the hit series at such a young age restricted her from socially developing, as her castmates were distanced from others kids because they had school on set and became even more secluded when the pandemic hit in 2020.

“I don’t have many friends, because of who I am,” Brown reveals. “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. I missed out on a few things. But I’m working through them.”

However, the actress has been close with her Stranger Things co-star Noah Schnapp offscreen for years. Her other co-star and love interest in the show, Finn Wolfhard, came to Brown’s rescue in 2017 when she dealt with internet trolls who tried to create false narratives between the two. “If you are for real you will not harass my friends, or co-workers,” Wolfhard wrote in a post that’s now deleted.

From growing up in front of the camera, Brown has continued to be sexualized online, which led her to delete social media for a period in 2022 in addition to her problems with body image. “I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is making me feel horrible about myself,'” the Enola Holmes star told Vanity Fair. Now, Brown feels content with her life living on a farm with her husband, Jake Bongiovi, whom she married last year.

When it came to returning to her roots for Brown’s last go-around playing Eleven, she said the Wicked soundtrack inspired some memorable moments on set.

“She asked us to play ‘Defying Gravity’ while she was hovering midair in a harness so she could pretend to fly like Elphaba,” said Matt Duffer, the show’s co-creator. “Not just because she loves the song, but because she knows it drives us a little crazy. As soon as the camera rolls — barely a second before — that silliness vanishes and she just … transforms into Eleven.”

Shooting of the long-awaited fifth and final season wrapped in December, and Brown explained what it was like to close that chapter. “I was on set, and I was like, ‘Well, I have one more day left.’ And I started crying. I don’t actually like to cry at work. I’m a really emotional person, but I try to stay super strong. It made me feel so uncomfortable … and I just started welling up.”

Stranger Things season five will drop on Netflix later this year.