Hollywood has gotten a new power family moment. Actress Millie Bobby Brown, 21, and Jake Bongiovi, 23, took the world by surprise Thursday morning after the Stranger Things star announced that they are new parents, not in staged magazine cover or red carpet photoshoot, but in a lovely Instagram post.
“This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption. We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful next chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy.”
“And then there were 3.”
“Love, Millie and Jake Bongiovi,” Brown captioned the photo that sent her 63.9 million followers into complete meltdown mode.
From Hawkins to Home Life
Fans have seen Millie transform from Eleven in Stranger Things into a full-fledged world star, but as it just so happens, her biggest acting role is just getting started: motherhood. And to those that have seen her interview, that shouldn’t be a surprise. She’s freely talked about wanting to have the family while she’s young, in keeping with her own parent’s example.
“My mom actually had her first child at 21, and my dad was 19,” Brown conceded earlier this year while promoting her Netflix blockbuster The Electric State on the Smartless podcast. “It’s been my thing since before I met Jake. Since I was a baby, I told my mom, like, baby dolls. I wanted to be a mom just like the way my mom was to me.”
That lack of a huge family definitely seemed to fit right into Jake Bongiovi’s home life. He’s one of four, Millie’s one of four, and in her own words, “I really want a big family… But for me, I don’t see having your own child as really any different as in adopting.”
Secret Wedding, A Public Surprise
The baby announcement comes on the heels of another milestone the couple managed to keep remarkably under wraps: their low-key May 2024 wedding. Getting together in 2021, they wed in secret, with only closest and dearest friends and immediate family in attendance. And now, just a few months later, they’ve expanded the family in the ultimate “plot twist” conclusion to the rom-com rollercoaster of their relationship.
It’s unusual for celeb couples to manage to catch the internet off guard these days, but Millie and Jake have done exactly that, initially by keeping the wedding quiet, and now by announcing that they’ve become parents via adoption.
Privacy, Please. With a Side of Love
Even though the duo is overjoyed to make the joyous announcement, however, they also make it known that they hope to raise the little girl outside of the flashbulb pop of paparazzi attention. “Peace and privacy” were the two terms Millie shared in her caption, suggesting that while the internet may be hungry for all the information, from names of babies to nursery decor, that fans are going to have to be considerate of boundaries.
That has not prevented the wave of congratulations on social media, however, as her co-stars and A-list pals will shortly be inundating her for the next few days.
