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Millie Bobby Brown said growing up on sets with “primarily men on crews” impacted her ability to connect with peers in an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Monday, June 29
She shared that her “social butterfly” husband Jake Bongiovi has helped her embrace socializing
Brown revealed she missed traditional childhood experiences like school and mingling with her peers amid the demanding filming schedule of Stranger Things
Millie Bobby Brown said she struggles to connect with people who are her own age after experiencing childhood in the spotlight.
Brown, 22, discussed how she feels disconnected from other people in their early 20s in an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Monday, June 29. When asked if she felt like she missed any milestones while growing up, Brown answered “socialization,” since she did not attend a traditional school.
“Sometimes when fans come up to me, they’ll be like ‘Millie!’ and I’ll be like ‘Aah!'” she quipped.
“I just don’t know how to react sometimes to people my own age,” the Enola Holmes star continued. “I have a harder time. Because I grew up with primarily men on crews, let’s change that.”
The actress went on to explain that many of the crew members she worked with on Stranger Things and her other projects have been “men over 40 years old.”
Millie Bobby Brown in Season 1 Epsiode 6 of Stranger Things
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
“And so I heard a lot of adult talk growing up, I didn’t really talk about the things you’re meant to talk about as a kid,” the Damsel actress explained. “Because you hear ‘Where’s the grip? Let’s grab a ladder,’ you know? And so that’s your whole conversation.”
She added that she can talk “extensively” about “different lens changes and shots,” but struggles to connect with people her own age over topics like favorite bars and restaurants.
Brown made her professional acting debut in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland in 2013 and reached international fame for her starring role as Jane “Eleven” Hopper in Netflix’s smash hit Stranger Things from 2016 to 2025.
Brown then explained on Monday’s podcast episode that her social life changed when she met her husband, Jake Bongiovi, whom she called “the most social butterfly.”
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“The complete opposite [side] of me,” Brown said of her husband. “You know, he went to boarding school and college so he is like a social butterfly. When I met him, I really tried to lean more into that. So, I’m in my social era.”
Brown and Bongiovi, 24, tied the knot in May 2024, PEOPLE previously reported.
The couple announced just over a year later that they had welcomed a “sweet baby girl” via adoption on Instagram in a joint post in August 2025, writing, “We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy.”
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