At just 18, Millie Bobby Brown has already learned the power and the perils of fame.

It says nothing about pajamas, though, which is exactly whatMillie Bobby Brownis wearing when she arrives.

It overlooks the verdant golf course, although Millie doesnt golf.

Portrait of Millie Bobby Brown for Allure. She wears a white arm cuff made of paper that obscures half her face. She’s also wearing silver eye makeup and her hair slicked back.

I like quiet places, she explains of the setting.

Places that Im familiar with and that I feel comfortable at.

Photographed by Jem Mitchell.

Millie Bobby Brown on the cover of Allure magazine. The close-up portrait features Brown with her hair slicked back wearing bright yellow and green eye shadow and a glossy lip. Small shapes made of colorful paper have been glued in a swirling pattern that outlines her eyes.

Fashion stylist: Joanna Schlenzka.

Hair: Shon Hyungsun Ju.

Makeup: Ciara OShea.

Portrait of Millie Bobby Brown for Allure. Her slicked-back hair is dyed green to match her green, abstract patterned turtleneck. She has painterly blue eyeshadow in the corner of one eye, and both eyes are framed with paper cutouts that mimic feathers.

Manicure: Michelle Humphrey.

Set design: Lydia Shirreff.

Producer: Chebabo & Co.

Portrait of Millie Bobby Brown for Allure. She is staring intensely into the camera as white paper swirls around her face. Her red hair matches the red pigment that is striped and dotted around her eyes.

This is the second time Millie and I have spoken.

Both times, shes been in pajamas.

Weve covered everything, she agrees, as we get up from the table.

You know more than Jake knows about me.

The craft of acting found its way into her heart by chance.

Alexis Bittar and Dinosaur Designs rings.

To create a similar makeup look: Whats My Line?

My parents were like, Well, it is a job.

And if you commit to it, you have to commit to it.

So I was like, I dont care.

Whatever it takes, I want to act.

Although she auditioned for funny parts too, she was always cast in the intense roles.

I enjoyed being different people because I always struggled with self-identity and knowing who I was, she says.

I also struggle with loneliness a bit.

Then came the show that changed her life:Stranger Things.

A powerful casting director said she wasnt going to make it in the industry because she was too mature.

Millie, then just 10 years old, was in tears.

I always knew that I was mature and I couldnt really help that, she says.

I got really down about that.

So I said, Okay, yeah, I should do this one because it looks cool.

Three months later, Millie was cast as Eleven, a young girl with psychokinetic and telepathic abilities.

At first it was really fun, she says of acting.

And then I was like, Gosh, I could really do things with this.

I could really change the world with this.

There was something about acting that made me feel powerful, impactful, and like I could inspire people.

Its really hard to be hated on when you dont know who you are yet.

I dont know anything about beauty andskin care, she notes.

Thats why I created this.

Things that are so important for your skin, but we dont know about because were young.

Everythings antiaging, everything is depuffing.

We dont know what that means.

She adds, sincerely, I need to know more.

And I know our generation needs to know more.

Since the first season ofStranger Thingspremiered in 2016, Millie has become hugely famous.

So famous that she cant even go shopping without security.

Inevitably, there is a dark side: Millie doesnt havesocial mediaon her phone.

Its hard to escape the fact that people are obsessed with everything Millie says and does.

It works because, as she says, Nobody can comment.

Still, over the years, Millie has struggled to understand why being herself generates so much vitriol.

Its really hard to be hated on when you dont know who you are yet, she says.

So its like, What do they hate about me?

Cause I dont know who I am.

Its almost like, Okay, Im going to try being this today.

[And then they say], Oh, no, I hate that.

Im going to try being this today.

Oh, my God!

I hate when you do that.

Then you just start shutting down because youre like, Who am I meant to be?

Who do they need me to be for them?

Then I started to grow more, and my family and friends really helped.

I just have to develop within myself.

Thats what I did.

She pauses, acknowledging theres still work to be done: Thats what Im doing.

In 2020, Millie found herself in what she calls an unhealthy situation with TikTok star Hunter Ecimovic.

It took all her strength to walk away, which she did in January 2021.

As Eleven walks away from dying Papa, its easy to draw parallels.

I felt very vulnerable, she recalls.

Also, no one on the set knew I was going through this.

Then it was harder when the whole world knew.

By then, Millie was already dating Jake.

She looks back on the situation with a sense of thoughtful reflection.

It was a year of healing, she says.

When you get publicly humiliated this way, I felt so out of control and powerless.

Im not this perfect person that is sellingskin-care productsand [who is] inStranger Things.

I absolutely have made wrong decisions.

Millie is not the sum of her headlines.

Shes written two screenplays with her sister Paige, including one based on her grandmothers life.

Florence by Mills is rapidly expanding as a global brand.

People are all looking at me, What are you going to say, Millie?

Im going to say, Young girls deserve an education.

Young people everywhere deserve equal rights.

[You] deserve to love the people that you want to love.

Be the people that you want to be and achieve the dreams that you want to achieve.