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Millie Bobby Brown isn’t Eleven anymore. The actress, who has starred in Stranger Things since she was 12, had to remind followers that she’s growing up. On Monday, Brown shared a series of mirror selfies to Instagram. She captioned the post “me and my mini,” referring to her tiny Louis Vuitton x Murakami tote. Trolls descended and blew up her comments section with body- and age-shaming remarks.

“MILLIE WHAT HAPPENED,” one person wrote on the post, while another commented, “Millie’s google history : ‘How to look 65 when you are 16,’” insinuating that Brown looks beyond her age. Others joined the chorus, saying Brown looks “way older” than she is. “She skipped 20s & went straight to 40’s,” one wrote. Some accused the actress of wearing too much makeup, getting plastic surgery and even threw in accusations that she might be pregnant.

Her response was shared to Instagram Stories on Tuesday. It was a simple, direct message: “women grow!! not sorry about it :).” As a child star, now a married adult who is a successful author and business owner, it’s a sentiment she’s repeated, time and time again, those who’ve watched her get older in front of the camera — and can’t seem to accept who she is now.

‘A lot of people have opinions’

Before Stranger Things, which debuted in 2016 and will air its final season at some point this year, Brown appeared on hit shows like Grey’s Anatomy and NCIS. As she revealed to Harper’s Bazaar, even as she was featured in supporting roles, she was subjected to cyberbullying. Once Stranger Things became a blockbuster hit, and while Brown was just a teenager, appearance critiques became a near-constant companion as she navigated Hollywood. “It’s always difficult to dress for a red carpet event because a lot of people have opinions and unfortunately you say you won’t listen to it, but you actually kind of have to,” she told the publication.

By 16, she was using her voice to call out her abnormal experience and plead for people to do better. In an Instagram post on her birthday, she shared a video featuring nasty headlines about her, followed by clips showing her being followed by paparazzi and fans. “Our world needs kindness and support in order for us children to grow and succeed,” she captioned the post. “The last few years haven’t been easy, I’ll admit that. There are moments I get frustrated from the inaccuracy, inappropriate comments, sexualization, and unnecessary insults that ultimately have resulted in pain and insecurity for me. But not ever will I be defeated. I’ll continue doing what I love and spreading the message in order to make change.”

‘Who do they need me to be for them?’

Brown was still pleading with the public at 17 to see her as the woman she was becoming. “So being a young girl, people watch you grow up, right? And they’ve almost become invested in your growth and your journey. But they aren’t ready to accept the fact that you’re growing up,” she said during an interview with MTV News. “So I wear a crop top and people are like, ‘She’s 10.’ I’m like, ‘No…I am 17.’ That’s a thing that girls do. Or I wear high heels. Or I wear an outfit to an award show and they’re like, ‘She looks 50.’”

Becoming an adult was another moment that stands out, according to Brown. While people were long inappropriately commenting on her body — in one instance mentioning her cleavage on a red carpet when she was just 15 — there was a marked influx of “gross” commentary once she turned 18 that was overwhelming. In a 2022 interview with Allure, Brown also shared how confusing it was to mature with online critics always weighing in on her every move. “It’s really hard to be hated on when you don’t know who you are yet,” she said. “So it’s like, ‘What do they hate about me? ‘Cause I don’t know who I am.’ It’s almost like, ‘OK, I’m going to try being this today.’ [And then they say], ‘Oh, no, I hate that.’ ‘OK. Forget that. I’m going to try being this today.’ ‘Oh, my God! I hate when you do that.’ Then you just start shutting down because you’re like, ‘Who am I meant to be? Who do they need me to be for them?’”

‘We are enough’

Ultimately, she’s seemed to find purpose in these experiences. “Young women are dragged down for many different things. If it’s our maturity, if it’s the way we dress, if it’s the things we say, if it’s the choices we make, we will never be enough,” she told Netflix’s online magazine Queue. “It’s for us to find camaraderie and sisterhood in that. And to stand together and say, ‘We are enough.’ We have to stick together, breaking those stereotypes and standards.”

Brown’s short response to trolls this week is an example of that — and already it has brought some people together in the comment section of her latest Instagram post: a video reflecting on her 2024.

“Women do grow and you don’t need to apologize to anyone for it!” and “You’ve grown into such a beautiful woman!!” read a couple of the comments. Another: “A celebrity to everyone, a regular young woman living her life with her husband and family. I love this.”