Millie Bobbie Brown reveals she uses fake name to leave business reviews online

‘My whole life is people criticising me, so I’m going to give it back to you sometimes,’ the actor quips

Millie Bobby Brown has revealed that she uses a fake name to leave reviews for different businesses.

The 20-year-old actor made the confession during an episode of the Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware, which aired on 13 March. After podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware shared that they don’t write online reviews for restaurants they visit, Brown confessed that she does this.

She then shared that she “has a fake name” when writing these reviews, because she thinks “they’re important”. The actor quipped that she’s comfortable leaving these notes because of how much of her life is in the public eye.

“My whole life is people criticising me, so I’m going to give it back to you sometimes,” Brown said, before specifying that she usually leaves these reviews on Yelp.

She then recalled an experience she and her fiancé, Jake Bongiovi, had at a hotel, and how that encouraged her to leave a review for that business.

“Once, we were at a hotel and the woman was pulling my fiancé aside, like: ‘We need to settle payment,’ or whatever, and I’m just like: ‘Yeah, we will, but at the end of our stay, like we’re still staying here.’ And she was like: ‘Yeah, but you could settle it now,’ and I was like: ‘But I don’t want to I want to do it at the end of our stay,’” the Stranger Things star explained.

Brown said that after the conversation with the hotel worker, she left the Yelp review because she felt the employee didn’t want her to be there. She then specified what the review said.

“It was just like, ‘I really think that you should encourage guests to complete transactions after their stay, so they’ll feel as welcome and at home as possible,” she continued.

Brown then shared another experience at a clothing store, where a woman asked her if she knew where the socks were. While the actor said she didn’t know, she still offered to help, noting that she was “searching everywhere” for a certain pair of socks the woman wanted.

She shared that after “20 minutes” of looking, she decided to go to an employee and ask for help. However, according to Brown, the employee wasn’t very kind.

“I said: ‘Excuse me, I need this pattern but I need it in this size, can you help me?’ And she was so unhelpful! And I was like, ‘Please, this isn’t even for me, this is for a cute old lady that just wants to get her grandson a good pair of hiking socks,’” she added. “So I left a review.”

Jessie then asked Brown if she was a “Karen”, a name often used to describe someone high-strung and overly demanding. In response, the Enola Holmes star laughed and confessed: “OK, I am a Karen.” After quipping that she’s a “woke Karen”, Brown still shared why she thought leaving Yelp reviews for businesses was valuable.

“Listen, I do think it’s important to know where you went wrong and there’s always room for improvement,” she said.

In the comments of Table Manners’ TikTok video, which featured Brown’s remarks about her fake name, many fans praised her for being so candid about her Yelp reviews. They also disagreed with her claim that she was Karen, after hearing the experiences that led her to leave the reviews.

“There’s a difference between being a ‘Karen’ and offering feedback and constructive criticism. Millie seems to be doing the latter, as do I!” one wrote, while another added: “Honestly, Millie is amazing.”

A third added: “That’s not Karen behaviour though, that’s reasonable irritations!”

Aside from her Yelp reviews, Brown has shared her honest thoughts about social media. During an interview with Women’s Wear Daily in September, she revealed why her team prevents her from seeing negative things about her on social media while specifying that she tries to steer clear of Instagram.

“I personally feel it wasn’t adding anything to my life. And I felt positive when I didn’t have it on my phone. I just felt like I could live my life with more confidence and freedom, mental freedom [without social media],” she said. “I just feel better for it. But that doesn’t mean that the good social media I don’t get to see: I just have a wonderful team that kind of censors it all so that I can protect myself.”