Millie Bobby Brown Reflects on Being 'Publicly Humiliated' By Hunter Echo

Last summer, the Stranger Things star found herself in the middle of controversy when Echo claimed to have "groomed" her during an Instagram Live after photos of the pair hugging and kissing surfaced online. Alleging that they started seeing each other when he was 20 and Brown was 16, the social media personality also went on to seemingly reference a few supposed sexual encounters, before adding that he would "never apologize" for something that he said was "completely legal."

As a result, Echo's livestream and IG account were taken down. And in the meantime, Brown's team also hit back in a statement calling his comments "not only dishonest, but also... irresponsible, offensive and hateful," while stating that they were "taking action to ensure that he stops this behavior once and for all."

However, Brown has now publicly spoken out about the "unhealthy situation" in a new interview with Allure, where she revealed that she left Echo in January 2021 — nearly six months before his Instagram Live.

"I felt very vulnerable," she said, revealing that "no one" on set"knew I was going through this" while she was filming the new season of Stranger Things.

"So, it was kind of nice to be able to just deal with that myself and no one else knew," Brown continued. And though she was apparently already with boyfriend Jake Bongiovi at the time of Echo's broadcast, the actress noted that "it was harder [to handle] when the whole world knew."

"When you get publicly humiliated this way — I felt so out of control and powerless," Brown said, though she ended things on a positive note by saying, "walking away and knowing that I'm worth everything and this person didn't take anything from me, it felt very empowering."

She went on to add, "It felt like my life had finally turned a page and that I actually had ended a chapter that felt so fucking long."

Echo has yet to respond to Brown's comments. In the meantime though, you can read her entire Allure cover story here.

Photo via Getty / Theo Wargo