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Millie Bobby Brown shuts down photographer over ‘boyfriend’ request

‘Stranger Things’ star didn’t let the paparazzi away with their mistake

Jacob Stolworthy
Wednesday 26 February 2025 02:40 GMT
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Millie Bobby Brown corrects photographers over husband

Millie Bobby Brown snapped at a photographer who incorrectly called her husband her “boyfriend”.

The Stranger Things star, 21, married Jake Bongiovi, 23, in a secret Hamptons ceremony in May 2024 after becoming engaged one year before. The intimate event was attended by their closest friends and family.

Brown, who will return in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things in November, is currently promoting her new film with the streaming service, The Electric State, which stars Chris Pratt and is directed by Avengers: Endgame’s Anthony and Joe Russo.

The actor attended the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Monday (26 February), posing for photographs in front of paparazzi.

At one stage, two unseen photographers could be heard shouting for Brown to “get your boyfriend” in the shots, to which an unimpressed Brown bluntly replied: “He’s not my boyfriend.”

The photographers apologised, with Brown, a smirk on her face, telling them: “It’s OK.”

When Bongiovi, who is the son of musician Jon Bon Jovi, joined Brown for the photographs, the pair appeared to chuckle at her outburst.

Brown announced her engagement to Bongiovi with a black and white photo on Instagram, captioned with lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “Lover”, in April 2023.

“I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, I want ‘em all,” she wrote.

Millie Bobby Brown with her husband Jake Bongiovi
Millie Bobby Brown with her husband Jake Bongiovi (Getty Images for Netflix)

Two months later, the couple had a private engagement party, where they posed for pictures in front of heart-shaped white balloons and a light-up sign that read: “Mr & Mrs Bongiovi.”

Their engagement came nearly two years after the pair confirmed their relationship when they shared a selfie in June 2021.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Brown gave fans a look into the wedding planning process and revealed that the budding musician proposed to her with a ring her mother Kelly gave him.

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“I’ve always loved that ring, it’s always stuck out to me, so she gave it to Jake,” she told the outlet. “They were in cahoots about the whole proposal. I love that I can always keep a piece of my mum with me.”

From the moment they met, Brown said it felt like she had finally met her person.

Millie Bobby Brown at the premiere of ‘The Electric State’
Millie Bobby Brown at the premiere of ‘The Electric State’ (AFP via Getty Images)

She recalled: “I ran to my mum and said: ‘I really, really like him!’ After we met we knew we never wanted to leave each other’s side.

“You can’t pinpoint why, it’s just the feeling of knowing that that’s the person you want to spend the rest of your time with.

“I think so much of life is overthinking. The one thing that made clear sense to me was him. So I didn’t really have to do much thinking.”

The Electric State is a sci-fi adventure following an orphaned teenager who traverses the American West with a mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter in search of her younger brother.

It’s released on Netflix on 14 March.

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