“It’s hard for me to do scenes where Eleven is happy,” Millie Bobby Brown told me a few years ago of her character on Stranger Things, “because I’m used to her being so depressed and distraught all the time.”

Fast forward to Season 4 of the super hit on Netflix (2016 – present). There is hardly a smile or a light moment for Brown’s alter ego, Jane Ives, as she endures bullying and delves into her roots with ‘Papa’.

In the pen ultimate season of the fiction horror drama series, written and produced by the Duffer Bros., we lose some key cast members but not like ‘The Red Wedding’ in Game of Thrones. Fans can rest easy, though some have baulked at Brown’s playful agreement with Noah Schnapp in an interview with The Wrap that the creators needed to kill off some people. The Duffer Brothers – Matt and Ross – went on record on the Happy Sad Confused podcast refuting the playful comments by his leads and noting that mass deaths were unlikely to unfold in the upcoming 5th and final season. “This is Hawkins,” Matt Duffer said of the small town where the show is set, “not Westeros.” He went on to note that “Every death has an impact,” and that the choices of which character fails to survive is based on consequences and logic.

Indeed, it’s doubtful that the quick-witted and play Brown was serious in the suggestion and is likely more reflective of her state of mind. There is plenty to smile about right now.

The role of Eleven made the British actress the youngest person to be featured on the ‘Time 100’ list. The 18-year-old has 54 million followers on Instagram, is dating Jake Bongiovi, the offspring of an iconic rockstar, Jon Bon Jovi – and has become a producer. She has turned her interest in directing into a short film, collaborating with her brother, Charlie, who acted as director of photography (Teen Vogue). The young actress who has never worked with a women director hopes to work with Greta Gerwig one day. She also directed the actress who portrays a young Eleven, Martie Blair, in the series (Glamour).

Born February 19, 2004, In Marbella, Spain to Kelly and Robert, the third of four children – Paige, Ava and Charlie, the actress has not only leveraged her fame to segue onto the big screen in roles like Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and its sequel Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) as well as Enola Holmes, opposite none other than Super Man’s Henry Cavill, she has also taken on another feat that is dear to her heart, that of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador – the youngest person ever selected for this position. While other young creatives might not register the leverage of their voice, Brown was specific when promoting Season 3 of Stranger Things.

“Fame, can be very different and challenging at times. But I definitely do have a regular life.” She laughed back then. “I get to have really great opportunities and use my platform for great things. Before, I didn’t have a voice and I didn’t have a platform to help people even though I did really wanted to.”

The 80’s is seeing a resurgence in all things pop culture, and in many ways Stranger Things was a forerunner for the trend, since the show is set in the 80’s, which the Bowie lover has totally embraced.

“I am always very jealous of everyone that was born in the 80s,” She has shared, pointing out the freedom of things we forget. ‘Even when I was normal, I couldn’t go out of the house or anything like that, because it’s dangerous. But in the 80s, you could go and ride your bikes around the neighborhood and you could go and get milk or do whatever you needed to do. So I am jealous and envious of that.” She tilted her head to the side, “I am trying to think,” she explains the pause, before bursting forth, “Oh, I loved the old Coca-Cola cans.” “And there was no social media,” she lists the positives, She also thinks the music was, “Some of the best music in the world.”

And the fashion? Back in 2018 she felt like the clothing was “a lot like curtains” – though she really embraced the decade. “The style was on point.” She endorses, and she is someone who knows.

“Her impeccable sense of style has made her a fashion icon. “My style is ever evolving,” she told me in 2019,” which is what makes her so formidable on the red carpet.

She has experimented with incredible tailoring, pushed the envelope with a pink puffy Rodarte, a slick Calvin Klein leather shirt dress, but her piece de résistance was the Louis Vuitton one shouldered two-toned gown she wore to this season’s premiere. The metamorphosis was complete with feathered bangs and long blonde tresses. (Yes, she wore a wig to depict her shorn hair in the latest season, according to NetflixLife.com.) Millie Bobby brown is all grown up the one fashion secret she told me, is still in place: I can’t walk in those super pointy heels,” she confessed, “So I stick to my chunky heels, and I’m good.”

If you look at her heels at May’s premiere, she echoes the goddess image of Hollywood standing confidently in her shared secret, that is now yours too – “chunky heels” – which is a trick every fashionista knows.