Millie Bobby Brown isn’t staying silent. On Monday, March 3, the 21-year-old actress took to Instagram to address “bullying” by the press while also making it clear that she won’t tolerate negative commentary about her appearance—and stressing that society as a whole needs to do better for young women.
“I grew up in front of the world, and for some reason, people can’t seem to grow with me,” she wrote in the caption of her post, which she also dictated out loud to her over 53 million followers. “Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger ThingsSeason 1. And because I don’t, I’m now a target.” [Editor’s note: Brown was 12 years old when the show premiered in 2016.]
She went on to call out specific articles scrutinizing her looks, questioning what she has “done to her face” and why she’s “aging so badly.”
“This isn’t journalism. This is bullying,” she continued. “The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, it’s disturbing. The fact that some of these articles are written by women? Even worse. We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when the time comes, it seems easier to tear them down for clicks.”
Brown ended her statement with a firm stance, making it clear she won’t let public scrutiny affect her. “I refuse to apologize for growing up,” she stated. “I refuse to make myself smaller to fit the unrealistic expectations of people who can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman. I will not be shamed for how I look, how I dress, or how I present myself.
We have become a society where it’s so much easier to criticize than it is to pay a compliment. Why is the knee-jerk reaction to say something horrible rather than to say something nice? If you have a problem with that, I have to wonder—what is it that actually makes you so uncomfortable? Let’s do better. Not just for me, but for every young girl who deserves to grow up without fear of being torn apart for simply existing.”
