If you were in East London last week, you may have seen queues form around the block, fans waiting for a sighting of their idol. But the subject of their passion is not a flash-in-the-pan heart-throb or veteran pop star. It’s Millie Bobby Brown, the teenage actor-turned-muse, arriving for the launch of her first jewellery collection with Pandora. Still only 16, Millie became an icon the moment she arrived on our screens four years ago, as Eleven in Stranger Things, and has adapted to fame seamlessly.
She’s a fixture on the red carpet, and has been spotted out and about with a merry- go-round of A-list friends. She’s close to Drake and Taylor Swift, hangs out with Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande and, she tells Grazia, has the ear of Jessica Chastain. Millie has often been compared to a young Natalie Portman, another Hollywood acquaintance. ‘When I met Natalie, she said, “I’m honoured to even look like you,”’ she grins, delightedly. ‘I was like, “Really?” She’s so cool.’ It was the 2016 Emmy Awards ceremony that pushed her into such circles. ‘I did not play it cool,’ she said soon after. ‘I was getting a picture with everyone. I was star-struck.’ Now it seems, the tables have turned, and it’s Millie who everyone wants a selfie with. In fact, during our chat, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul randomly bursts into the room, just to say hi.
While at 16 most of were studying for our GCSEs, pining over the school bad boy, and spending our Saturday job wages in Topshop, Millie’s enviable red carpet wardrobe is by Dior and Calvin Klein. There was debate at the start of her career as to whether it’s problematic for a child to be considered a style icon. ‘When I was maybe 11 or 12, my style was striving to be appropriate to my age, but also feeling like me,’ she explains. ‘I was born into jeans and overalls and Converse – then all I wanted to do was wear heels. But I’ve got into tennis shoes again. I’m really into being comfy.’ Her collaboration with Pandora is her first foray into jewellery, resulting in a teen-friendly collection of charms, bracelets and brooches. ‘I was really nervous to see where I couldn't into that jewellery space,’ she admits. ‘But the collaboration created something that felt like me.'
Growing up in the public eye, however, hasn’t been easy. ‘Being a young person, it can be hard to be taken seriously,’ she says. ‘It’s so important that we recognise that the workspace isn’t an equal playing field.’ She cites philanthropic stars like Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio as role models, and is proud that her generation is mixing things up. ‘Young people are doing great things, like Greta Thunberg. She’s killing it.’ Would she portray the environmentalist on screen? ‘Let’s do it!’ she laughs. ‘I don’t have her vocabulary, but she’s doing amazing things. I’ll be here, even if she just needs a water.’
Millie is not done with Eleven yet, though: filming for the fourth series of Stranger Things begins soon. She’s tight-lipped on spoilers, but apparently not so much with her inner circle. ‘I tell my family everything. I just get so excited. And whoever is my best friend at that time, they will hear too.’
With her A-list address book, who knows who that will be next?
Millie Bobby Brown is the face of the new Pandora Me Collection; pandora.net