The Tragic Truth About Millie Bobby Brown

Millie Bobby Brown has been acting since she was eight years old and had small bits in hit shows, but it was starring in "Stranger Things" at age 11 that really catapulted her to fame. The young actor played the mysterious Eleven with superpowers and soon became a fan favorite of the Netflix series. However, with it came the negative parts of being a star. "I try to keep a lot of people out. I draw the curtains because I believe in privacy for my own sanity really, just to keep people out and lock that fence," she told Women's Wear Daily.

Unfortunately, when Brown let in Drake, she and the rapper received a lot of backlash over their friendship. When Brown was only 14 years old, she revealed to W Magazine that she and the "Hotline Bling" singer, who was in his early 30s at the time, had a close relationship. "Honestly, we text all the time now. He helps me with everything, like just life lessons, he's amazing, he's a great human being," she gushed. Their 17-year age gap raised some eyebrows, and Brown took to social media to write, "Why u gotta make a lovely friendship ur headline? U guys are weird... For real ... I'm very blessed to have amazing people in my life," according to BuzzFeed News. Growing up in the spotlight is never easy, and while Brown's career is thriving despite the controversy, she's faced many challenges along the way.

One of Millie Bobby Brown's many talents is her singing ability, but you would never know that she lives with a medical condition that left her able to only hear out of one ear. The "Godzilla" actor was born with partial hearing loss, which eventually faded into a complete inability to hear, according to Variety. Still, that doesn't keep her from belting out tunes. "I just started to sing, and if I sound bad I don't care, because I'm just doing what I love. You don't have to be good at singing. You don't have to be good at dancing or acting. If you like to do it, if you genuinely enjoy doing it, then do it. No one should stop you," she stated.

Brown showed that being hard of hearing didn't affect her singing skills during an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." After doing an impersonation of Amy Winehouse with the song "You Know I'm No Good," Jimmy Fallon was thoroughly impressed and gave her a standing ovation. The two later did a round of "Beat Battle," and it's safe to say if Brown hadn't revealed that she was deaf in one ear, no one would have been the wiser.

Millie Bobby Brown was 16 when she announced the death of her grandmother, Ruth. As reported by People, the actor shared a touching tribute in a since-deleted Instagram post, writing, "Alzheimer's is evil. Its cruel. Taking away someones ability to remember memories and then how to function like a human being. Its so hard to sit there and watch." She revealed that she couldn't visit her ailing grandmother due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued, "She is truly my guardian angel. I love you nanny. Theres no forgetting a soul like this one. I hope time will somewhat heal. But for now ill hug mummy and watch videos of us singing and dancing."

Brown's grandmother inspired her to write "Nineteen Steps," which is a novel based on the accounts Ruth used to tell her about living through World War II. "Of course, there is a lot of tragedy within the stories that she was telling me, but there is also a lot of humor and a lot of love, community, and friendship, and I felt like this could be something really important for people to know about," Brown stated on the "Today" show. On whether her late grandmother would approve of her debut novel, the "Enola Holmes" star shared, "I think she would be really hesitant about how it's explained, but I think she would be really excited overall."

Controversy surrounded Millie Bobby Brown yet again when social media content creator Hunter Ecimovic claimed in an Instagram Live that he had "groomed" a 16-year-old Brown while he was 20, according to E! News. He told viewers that they had an intimate relationship and were living together for almost a year. Following his video, Brown's reps stated, "Mr. Ecimovic's remarks on social media are not only dishonest but also are irresponsible, offensive and hateful. 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."

A year later, Brown opened up to Allure about dealing with the ordeal. "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," she revealed. Brown added, "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."

Since "Stranger Things" put Millie Bobby Brown on the map, the young star somehow found herself the target of online vitriol. It all started in 2017 when a woman on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed she saw Brown at an airport and had her hijab forcibly removed by the actor, as noted by Vox. Since then, a slew of allegedly false reports of Brown being homophobic made their way around social media, causing the then-teenager to delete her X account.

During her interview with Allure, Brown shared that her team handles her other social media accounts, and she refrains from using the apps on her phone. The cyberbullying also led her to seek therapy. "It's really hard to be hated on when you don't know who you are yet. ... So it's like, 'What do they hate about me? 'Cause I don't know who I am,'" she mused. "Then I started to grow more, and my family and friends really helped. It helped to be able to understand that I don't need to be anything they said that I need to be. I just have to develop within myself. That's what I did," Brown continued.

All good shows come to an end, and sadly, Season 5 will be the last of "Stranger Things." Creators Matt and Ross Duffer shared in a statement obtained by People, "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for 'Stranger Things.' At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you'll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurling toward our finale." During the production of Season 5, Millie Bobby Brown went on the "Today" show to tell Hoda Kotb, "We're filming right now. And it feels good. You know, it's obviously our last season, so we're really excited to, you know, be back together again for one last hurrah, but it does feel sad."

Brown echoed her sentiments on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and stated: "It's sad to say goodbye. You know, we're in production right now, and it feels weird because every day feels like the last day." She expressed mourning for leaving her character Eleven behind for every day filming wrapped but was also excited about what's to come. At just 20 years old, Brown has her whole career ahead of her, and despite some tragic patches in her life, she's one of Hollywood's biggest burgeoning stars.