Millie Bobby Brown reflects on being 'publicly humiliated' after TikToker Hunter Echo suggested that he 'groomed' her

• 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 the TikToker Hunter Echo was a "blip."

Millie Bobby Brown opened up about the "blip" of a situation she experienced at 16 years old with a 21-year-old TikToker known as Hunter Echo.

The actor, now 18 years old and happily dating Jake Bongiovi (who's one of the rock star Jon Bon Jovi's sons), 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 Insider reported in July 2021, the TikToker, whose real name is Hunter Ecimovic, went on Instagram Live and said he had "groomed" the younger star and alluded to sexual acts. Now, speaking with Allure, Brown described the experience as an "unhealthy situation" in 2020 and said she walked away in early 2021 — 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."

Allure said Brown channeled the experience into her performance in "Stranger Things." In the fourth season, the most recent, her character, Eleven, has to fight against her abusive father figure, Dr. Martin Brenner, and physically battle a new villain named Henry Creel (aka Vecna or One).

The young actor said her ultimate career goal was 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 on Netflix, with a fifth and final season in the works by the Duffer Brothers, the show's cocreators.