Millie Bobby Brown's love journey has been a strange ride,
from love before licenses to questionable engagements. But
are her romantic decisions driving her straight into heartbreak city?
In 2017, Millie Bobby Brown started dating Jacob Sartorius, a former Musical.ly star
who parlayed his social media success into a music career. But to some Stranger Things fans,
the singer's main claim to fame is being the boy who gave Brown a teddy bear. Brown shared
a photo of herself cuddling the plushie on Instagram in January 2018 and captioned it:
"Thanks for the bear."
The two had been spotted vacationing at Disney World together on New Year's Eve, and
Brown confirmed it when she shared a photo on her Instagram Story. A number of sweet social
media exchanges and loved-up pics followed, including a since-deleted May 2018 snapshot
of Brown and Sartorius kissing on the beach. In response to it, Ariana Grande commented:
"I wasn't even allowed to leave my house til I was 20."
Brown was only 14, but she was used to playing a character with nearly zero parental supervision.
Millie and Sartorius weren't even old enough
to legally drive when they ended their seven-month relationship in July 2018,
but they displayed a level of maturity that some of Hollywood's divorcees could take a
note from. The exes both announced their split on their Instagram Stories, with Brown writing:
"The decision with Jacob and I was completely mutual. We are both happy and remaining friends."
In October 2018, Brown wished Sartorius a happy 16th birthday on Instagram stories,
proving that her social media message wasn't just a gesture of goodwill. It included a
photo of a smiling Brown resting her head on Sartorius' shoulder and the words, "Love u."
The following January, Brown posted a since-deleted photo on Instagram in which
she had on a T-shirt that Sartorius had been spied wearing before. It ignited rumors that the exes
had secretly rekindled their romance, but they never confirmed if they briefly reconciled or not.
David and Victoria Beckham's oldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, helped the power couple continue building
their dynasty of fame by marrying Nicola Peltz. But their second-oldest son, Romeo, got his own
shot at scoring a win for Brand Beckham when he captured the heart of Millie Bobby Brown.
But Romeo and Brown kept their rumored romance under the radar. According to The Sun,
Brown first became acquainted with the Beckhams at a 2016 UNICEF gala,
where she and David co-presented an award. At the same event, she joked to
E! that she would like Eleven's future on Stranger Things to somehow involve Romeo.
"'What would you want to see happen with Eleven next season?'
'Umm, I don't know. Something with Romeo Beckham.'"
In September 2018, Brown wished Romeo a happy birthday on her Instagram Story and
referred to him with a rather unromantic term of endearment by calling him bro.
But a source told The Sun that the teens were more than just friends. The insider revealed:
"It's early days but they make a very sweet couple. Posh has given it the
seal of approval as she is a big fan of Millie's."
Brown and Romeo have never confirmed their rumored relationship. According to a post
on Romeo's Instagram, he started dating model Mia Regan in May 2019.
It became clear that something was going on between Millie Bobby Brown and Joseph Robinson
when she suddenly took an interest in his rugby career. After Joseph shared an Instagram post
about scoring a contract with the Wigan Warriors, Brown commented with an enthusiastic "yessss!"
The couple seemed to get approval from her boyfriend's dad, rugby legend Jason Robinson,
when he shared a photo of the two on Instagram. Brown is smiling while dining with a group that
includes Joseph. The photo was taken in November 2019 when Brown vacationed in the Maldives,
which is where she and Joseph reportedly first met, according to the Daily Mail.
Joseph and Brown erased any doubt that they were dating with a January 2020 Snapchat photo
of the rugby player with his arms around the actor's waist. But seven months later,
they decided to go their separate ways. Distance and professional obligations were
reportedly contributing factors to their split, with a source telling The U.S. Sun:
"Millie has become a huge star overnight and Joseph's rugby career is really on the rise,
so perhaps it just wasn't the time for them to have a romance."
On an Instagram Live video in 2021, TikTok star Hunter "Echo" Ecimovic made a number of offensive
remarks about Millie Bobby Brown. Echo was 20 and Brown was 16 at the time of their relationship,
so some of Echo's followers accused him of taking advantage of Brown,
who was under the age of consent in California. In the live video, Hunter said:
"Yeah, I groomed her."
Echo's responses became obscene in the live stream when he started talking
about his encounters with Brown. In the video, he claimed that he didn't view
their relationship as inappropriate and attempted to defend his actions. He said:
"I was living at Millie's house for eight months. Her mom and dad knew about everything."
Echo suggested he deserved sympathy, adding:
"I got tricked. I got taken advantage of, if anything [...] She used her powers on me."
It's unclear how serious he was about the claim because he began
imitating Brown's Stranger Things character Eleven when she uses her
telekinetic abilities. Brown's reps denied Echo's claims and told TMZ:
"We are taking action to ensure that he stops this behavior once and for all."
But when he responded to the outrage, Echo only admitted that filming the
livestream was a mistake. He expressed no remorse over his treatment of Brown.
"I should have ended it the moment it started getting bad. But I chose not to,
I said what I said, and I can't take that back."
In a 2022 interview with Allure, Millie Bobby Brown revealed that
she realized her relationship with Hunter Echo was toxic long before
the TikToker spoke about her in a vulgar and demeaning manner.
She said that she's proud of herself for walking away and she found that filming the fourth season
of Stranger Things was a welcome distraction after enduring something so painful. Brown said:
"I felt very vulnerable. Also, no one on the set knew I was going through this. So it was kind of
nice to be able to just deal with that myself ... Then it was harder when the whole world knew."
She also described how she felt after Echo's video went viral, saying:
"When you get publicly humiliated this way, I felt so out of control and powerless."
Brown has always been outspoken about the difficulties she faced growing up in the public
eye. In addition to having her life thrust under the media microscope, she's had to endure endless
barrages of inappropriate messages on social media. When she turned 16, she wrote on Instagram:
"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."
She stated that part of her healing process was realizing her own self-worth and inner strength.
"He'll be fine."
Stranger Things is set in the '80s, so it's not surprising that a Bon Jovi song is featured on
the show's soundtrack. But fans couldn't have predicted that Millie Bobby Brown would end
up dating Jon Bon Jovi's look-alike son when they heard "Runaway" in a Season 2 episode. In
an interview with Wired, Brown said that she met Jake Bongiovi through social media. She recalled:
"We were friends for a bit, and then, what can I say?"
In June 2021, Bongiovi shared a photo that captured a moment from their pre-dating days.
He and Brown were inside a car and he was making a kissy face at the camera. But while
he described Brown as his best friend, his caption included a heart emoticon.
Two weeks later, the Daily Mail published photos of Brown and Bongiovi looking more than just
friends while walking hand-in-hand in NYC. They were joined by Brown's cute pet pooch, Winnie.
In November 2021, the couple jetset to London, which is where Brown made their relationship
Instagram official. She shared a blurry photo of Bongiovi embracing her and kissing her on
the cheek while they took in a breathtaking view from inside one of the pods on the London Eye.
After going public with their romance, Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi got busy living out
a real-life Hallmark holiday movie. In December 2021, Bongiovi shared an Instagram photo of the
couple standing in front of the brightly lit Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Days later,
they gave fans a glimpse of their own tree as they posed cheek-to-cheek. Brown told Seventeen that
one of her Christmas presents that year was Olivia Rodrigo's Sour record on vinyl. She quipped:
"I think my boyfriend's gonna kill me if I listen to it around him anymore."
But Brown and Bongiovi were still going strong a year later when another holiday season started
up again. In mid-November, Brown shared an Instagram Reel of the couple decorating their
towering Christmas tree in their PJs. Brown gave the cute clip even more of a festive
mood by setting it to Mariah Carey's seasonal classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You." The
post captured the attention of the Queen of Christmas herself, and she had something to
say about the couple's jumpstart on making their space bright for the holidays. Carey commented:
"Living for this!!!! (But it's soooo early!!!)"
Don't ever accuse Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi of giving love a bad name;
the couple makes being in a relationship look like an absolute blast. For Brown's 18th birthday
in February 2022, the pair went in matching styles. Brown went blonde to match her beau,
and she took to Instagram to reveal that she was getting in touch with her inner
Barbie. The following month, Brown and Bongiovi walked their first red carpet as a couple at
the BAFTA Awards. And they did it again at the Stranger Things Season 4 premiere in May 2022.
Later that month, the lovebirds vacationed in Barcelona. Brown posted a photo on instagram
posed in front of the La Sagrada Familia, and Bongiovi revealed what
song was on his mind while he was soaking up the sun with his girlfriend. He wrote:
"Alexa play late night talking by Harry Styles."
The couple's summer of love continued the following month in Sardinia.
According to Page Six, they were photographed chilling on a boat
during their romantic Italian getaway. In October 2022, Hollywood Life shared
photos of the pair on a Disney World date at the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge park.
In April 2023, Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi had just taken to Instagram to share
photos of what looked like a post-proposal celebration on the beach. And Brown was
looking very bridal in a white lace dress and rocking a large engagement ring on her finger.
Bongiovi simply captioned his slideshow, "Forever." The apparent engagement posts
flooded Twitter with suggestions that Brown was making a mistake by getting engaged at age 19.
But the Stranger Things star didn't look like she'd care about their opinions in the blissful
photo that she shared. Revealing just how ready she is to spend the rest of her life
with Bongiovi, Brown referenced the Taylor Swift song, "Lover", captioning the post:
"I've loved you three summers now, honey, I want 'em all."
According to Hollywood Life, the couple also has the approval of Bongiovi's parents. A source said:
"A lot of people believe that Jake and Millie are just experiencing
young puppy love and that it won't last but Jake's parents know that it can last
because they were the same ages as Jake and Millie when they started dating in 1980."