- Millie Bobby Brown spoke with Allure about the "unhealthy situation" she had with a TikToker.
- Brown, now 18 years old and happily dating a new guy, said TikToker Hunter Echo was a "blip."
- The "Stranger Things" star was 16 years old at the time and said she had "a year of healing" after.
Millie Bobby Brown opened up more about the "blip" of a situation she experienced at 16 years old with a 21-year-old TikToker known as Hunter Echo.
The actress, now 18 years old and happily dating Jake Bongiovi (son of rock star Jon Bon Jovi), spoke with Allure for the magazine's September cover story and reflected on the incident.
"It was a year of healing," Brown told Allure. "When you get publicly humiliated this way, I felt so out of control and powerless. Walking away and knowing that I'm worth everything and this person didn't take anything from me, it felt very empowering."
As reported by Insider in July 2021, TikToker Hunter "Echo" Eciomvic went on Instagram live and said he had "groomed" the younger star and made allusions to sexual acts. Now, speaking with Allure, Brown described the experience as an "unhealthy situation" that happened in 2020 before she walked away in early 2021 — and then "Stranger Things" season four began filming.
"I felt very vulnerable," Brown said. "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 and no one else knew. Then it was harder when the whole world knew."
According to Allure, Brown channeled the experience into her performance in "Stranger Things." In the most recent fourth season, her character Eleven has to fight against her abusive father figure Dr. Brenner and physically battle a newly revealed villain named Henry (aka Vecna or One).
The young actress says her ultimate career goal is to help other young people understand that she goes through tough situations.
"I'm not this perfect person that is selling skin-care products and in 'Stranger Things,'" she said. "I absolutely have made wrong decisions."
The fourth season of "Stranger Things" is now on Netflix, with a fifth and final season in the works by cocreators the Duffer Brothers.