On her Instagram story, Millie Bobby Brown addressed a new topic, stating, “Why [you] gotta make a lovely friendship [your] headline? [You] guys are weird.” At first, I thought the young actress was referring to a new rumor – perhaps something to do with one of her Stranger Things costars. However, once looking into the topic and seeing it trending on social media, I realized the creepy truth of it all.
Millie Bobby Brown and Drake first met in Australia last year, when Drake invited Millie to watch his show. Millie has been very open about their blooming friendship. In July she told W Magazine that the two are fans of each other and that they text all the time. She stated, “He helps me with everything, just like life lessons. He’s amazing. He’s a great human being and we went to dinner afterward and we had dinner the next day….”
Sounds kind of strange, but innocent enough, right? While it may be a little strange for a thirty-one-year-old and a fourteen-year-old to hang out together, it doesn’t sound like anything huge, just two friends having dinner together.
But it gets weirder.
During the 70th Emmy Awards on September 17th, the actress admitted that Drake often texts her “I miss you” messages and gives her relationship advice.
Okay, that’s a little strange.
Courtesy: Converse
Many of Millie’s fans have stood by the starlet, agreeing that this is nothing more than an innocent friendship and that there is no malice in being friends with an older man. However, a man that is over twice her age speaking to her in this way does raise a few red flags. Just take out the fact that they’re famous and that they’re completely different ages. Yea. Hanging out is not particularly cute, especially if he’s the one giving her relationship advice.
A term that has gone around social media seems to sum up the strange relationship: grooming. This term refers to when an adult is overly-friendly/personal with an adolescent in order to make the child vulnerable to a sexual relationship. Now, this may seem like the internet is jumping to conclusions, but keep in mind that this is the same behavior that is believed Drake had with his rumored girlfriend, Bella Harris when she was sixteen. Pictures can be found from 2016 of the two being incredibly cozy, and recent pictures have sprouted rumors that the rapper could be dating this girl who is almost half his age.
Courtesy: Stranger Things
Needless to say, Drake is building an interesting reputation for himself of befriending teenage girls. It’s no rumor that the rapper loves to surround himself with beautiful women, but these strange patterns have caused some controversy.
While Millie Bobby Brown has defended her friendship with Drake, it is also important to note that, at her age, there is no doubt that she is going to see this exchange as an innocent display of friendship. However, Drake’s behavior has been textbook grooming behavior: overly-friendly displays of affection, inserting himself into her personal problems, etc. It is also important to note how the media has forced Millie to mature at twice the rate as her male costars. If you happen to see pictures of her at a premiere without knowing who she was, it is safe to guess that she is twice her age due to the sexualization that the media forces upon young girls. Due to this, viewers themselves feel free to sexualize the young girl, even voting her Sexiest Actress in 2017, further promoting pedophilia.
Just remember, as long as “her mind is older,” it’s okay, right?