“19 years old” trending on Twitter this morning and it has nothing to do with the age of Leonardo DiCapro’s new girlfriend. Instead, everyone goes to their timelines to gossip about 19-year-old Millie Bobby Brown. Throughout his career, stranger things Star’s every move lit up the internet for one reason or another, and today he’s engaged.
The objectively sweet engagement post that Brown shared on Instagram this morning to her nearly 63 million followers shows her embracing the moon with her now fiancee, 20-year-old Jake Bongiovi. (Yes, he is Jon Bon Jovi’s son.) He has a band on his ring finger that he has never seen before. The title borrows the perfect 19-year-old fashion from Taylor Swift’s “Lover”: “I love you three summers honey, I want them all.”
If I saw it, it’s an engagement announcement. But between the timing—Swift broke up, like, 10 minutes before “In Love” inspo Joe Alwyn!—and Brown’s age, the rhetoric has veered in every possible direction. (Note that only five hours have passed since Brown’s post went live.)
For some critics, Brown’s engagement seems like an inadvisable move for a very young couple. For Brown, pleasedon’t rush“to marriage at her age – not any old enough to drink yet! – spread out. It doesn’t matter if he (and Bongiovi) is financially stable, they add; very young very young.
True or not on the finance front, this argument risks making Brown childish. Yes, she plays a character named “Eleven” in her beloved drama. stranger things, however, the actor has demonstrated maturity beyond his years since the start of his career. But that maturity caused a lot of backlash, to the point where Brown left TikTok due to widespread harassment. (Common complaints include that he looks older than his age, is rude in interviews, and exhibits problematic behavior on set.) People were right to be mad at Drake for claiming he had a texting relationship with Brown when he was 14. – but directing that anger at Brown is wrong.
Maybe that’s why, despite all the people surprised by Brown’s engagement, there are just as many people using it as a chance to dunk on themselves. “He is 19 and the man is 20”, one representative tweet reader. “And then there’s me, I’m 21 years old and I’ve never had a single boyfriend 😭” As someone who didn’t have a boyfriend until that age [redacted]I feel it very intensely. Comparing yourself to a successful Netflix star is silly business, but when you’re already feeling pathetic, that comparison is inevitable. Whether it’s Brown or your random ex-classmate, it feels bad to find out that someone your age or younger has found the love of your life while you’re eating Oreos alone on the couch, man.
That said, at least people are being supportive in their responses to all the sad burlap out there. Sometimes the internet is good.
And then they all have Swift. It’s a sensitive (sad) time for Swifties right now, and it doesn’t help that Brown commemorates one of the artist’s most romantic songs. Reports that Swift and her longtime boyfriend, Alwyn, broke up over the weekend, devastated group chats and subreddits for an untold amount of time. Swifties are raw and Brown’s pointing out an Alwyn-inspired love song certainly doesn’t help.
Know it: It all goes back to Taylor Swift. But Swift will likely belong to the more positive group of reviewers: those who are happy that Brown seems happy. Marrying a Bon Jovi”very stylishsaid one; “I wish everyone find a love like thissaid another. Most importantly, they remind the shocked Twitter users that their little baby Millie is actually an adult making her own choices. Plus, a lot of people get married young and it still works. Such things happen! (And maybe getting married when you’re old isn’t always like that. what’s crazyAnyway.)
Whichever side you’re on—because I’m sure you’re on one—I hope you understand that the best position is to wish these two crazy kids the best.
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