While many still see Millie Bobby Brown as the youngster who stole hearts as Eleven in the hit Netflix sci-fi drama Stranger Things, the 21-year-old actress, who was just 12 years old in the first season of the series, is all grown up—and she’s found her forever in her husband, Jake Bongiovi. And if that name sounds familiar to you, then you may have heard of his famous father—none other than superstar Jon Bon Jovi. Since first linking up in 2021, this young couple has gone through career milestones, said “I do,” and have even talked kids and starting a family. Here, all about Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi’s relationship.
How Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi met
Back in 2022, during an interview with WIRED, Brown revealed that she and her beau met on Instagram—not unusual in the digital age, especially being as high-profile of an actress as she is: “We were friends for a bit, and then, what can I say?” And the actress dug a little deeper into the couple’s origin story during a recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy Podcast. As Brown recalled, the two had a mutual friend who Jake was attending college with. When Millie got Jake’s number, she didn’t end up calling him for several months, finally doing so in a spur-of-the-moment type of way. When the ball got rolling, the two formed a nice friendship, but for a while, the actress didn’t think her hubby was interested in her romantically.
“He did not flirt with me, like once. When I tell you, I’m really good when I can sense that. I had no clue. And I said to my mom, ‘You’re going to have to sit in on a conversation I have with him and tell me, are you getting that?’” She continued, “I went down to my parents after a phone call one night and I said, ‘He’s either going to be the maid of honor at my wedding or the groom.’” Luckily, it ended up being the latter!
Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi tie the knot
In 2023, Brown announced via Instagram that her boyfriend had popped the question—and the proposal was truly adorable. The actress told the story during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, sharing that she and Jake share a passion for diving. While on vacation, he let her know they’d be going on a dive, and while underwater, he handed Brown a shell containing a ring—one that used to be her mother’s, which the actress had long admired. The proposal was not without a bit of drama, however. When she flipped her hand around to show it to him on her hand, it slipped down her wet finger, plummeting into the water below. Luckily, thanks to Jake’s quick reflexes, the symbol of their love was rescued.
In May of 2024, Millie and Jake wed in a private ceremony, and a few months later, enjoyed a bigger, more lavish reception in Italy—and the couple has Jake’s famous father’s stamp of approval! Many have commented on Millie and Jake’s age, the couple getting married when she was just 20, but Jon Bon Jovi told Andy Cohen on Radio Andy that all was well.
“I don’t know if age matters,” he told Cohen when the host asked if there was any concern regarding their age. “If you find the right partner and you grow together, I think that would be my advice really: growing together is wise. Growing together. I think that all of my kids have found the people that they think they can grow together with and we like ’em all.” He continued, “Millie is wonderful. Her whole family is great, really great. Jake is very, very happy.”
“I think so much of life is overthinking,” Brown told The Times of realizing Bongiovi was the one. “The one thing that made clear sense to me was him. So I didn’t really have to do much thinking.”
