Millie Bobby Brown Looks 40 Controversy

Submission 78

Overview

Millie Bobby Brown Looks 40 Controversy, also known as Millie Bobby Brown Old-Looking Discourse, refers to the backlash and public scrutiny directed at British actress Millie Bobby Brown concerning her appearance, particularly in the early-to-mid-2020s. Critics and tabloids have made remarks about her looks since she started her career in Stranger Things, suggesting she appears significantly older than her actual age, which sparked a viral debate about bullying in the media. Bobby Brown addressed the comments in early March 2025, naming a series of journalists who wrote negative articles about her appearance.

Background

Millie Bobby Brown's appearance has been the subject of various memes and jokes for a significant part of the British actress' career, especially during the early-to-mid-2020s amid her rise as the character Eleven in Stranger Things.

One of the earliest direct quotes suggesting Brown "looks 40" was posted on June 5th, 2022, by X^[1] / Twitter user @David_Rudnick, who shared a picture of the actress during the Stranger Things fourth season premiere, ironically captioning that she is "choosing to look 48 years old." The post (seen below) gained roughly 220 likes and 10 reposts in three years.

ཊལངསརངཧ @David_Rudnick. Follow I don't think we credit young talent enough sometimes, and I dont think anybody - actor or otherwise - has ever been better at her age than Millie Bobby Brown is at choosing to look 48 years old BuzzFeed @BuzzFeed Replying to @BuzzFeed Millie Bobby Brown added, "It's 2022. We don't have to label things. I think what's really nice about Will's character is that he's just a human going through his own personal demons/issues. So many kids out there don't know, and that's OK to not know and to not label things." 8:40 AM Jun 5, 2022

On February 23rd, 2025, comments about her looks intensified during her appearance at the SAG Awards event. The X^[2] page @DramaAlert uploaded a screenshot featuring some of the commentary left on social media about her looking old, one in particular writing, "Beautiful 41-year-old." The post (seen below) amassed over 153,000 views and 1,300 likes in a month.

Developments

Millie Bobby Brown's Bullying Statement

On March 3rd, 2025, the British actress called out the name of journalists who had made “disturbing coverage” over her appearance changing as she grew up.

The X^[3] page @DiscussingFilm shared Millie Bobby Brown's full video statement in which she says, "This isn’t journalism. This is bullying. The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, it’s disturbing." The post (seen below) gained more than 3 million views and 50,000 likes in two weeks.

Online Reactions

Millie Bobby Brown's appearance gained viral attention in mid-February and early March 2025, especially after the actress addressed the criticism and many fans came to her support.

For example, on March 4th, 2025, TikTok^[4] user @ryaned1tzx posted a Millie fancam edit as a response to a Brazilian content creator who made negative remarks about the actress' appearance. The video (seen below) received more than 90,000 plays and 15,000 likes in a week.

On March 10th, 2025, YouTuber^[5] @Mori posted a video commenting on Millie Bobby Brown's aging backlash, saying she "looks her age" and sharing some of the negative takes internet users have said about her looks. The video (seen below) amassed over 76,000 views and 4,700 likes in a week.