Phoenix 24
Her daughter now inspires every role she accepts.
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES — July 2026. Millie Bobby Brown has revealed that becoming a mother fundamentally changed the way she evaluates acting projects and chooses the characters she wants to portray. The 22-year-old actress said her professional decisions now revolve around her daughter and the kind of female representation she hopes the child will encounter while growing up. Brown explained that motherhood has given her work a more personal purpose, connecting each role with a broader desire to inspire future generations. Her comments came while promoting the third installment of Netflix’s Enola Holmes franchise.
Brown and her husband, Jake Bongiovi, welcomed their first daughter through adoption during the summer of 2025. The couple announced the news in August of that year, describing the arrival as the beginning of a beautiful new chapter that they intended to experience privately and peacefully. Since then, Brown has largely protected her daughter from public exposure while occasionally discussing the emotional changes associated with parenthood. She said that her child has become the central reference point behind both her personal priorities and professional ambitions.
The actress stressed that she does not expect her daughter to watch her films, imitate her career or view her as a role model simply because she is her mother. Instead, Brown wants to contribute to an entertainment industry where young audiences can discover many different women displaying intelligence, courage, independence and emotional complexity. She hopes that representing more female characters on screen will encourage filmmakers to create additional opportunities for women and motivate younger actresses to pursue visible roles. For Brown, that cultural impact would be more meaningful than expecting her daughter to follow the same professional path.
Her reflections are closely connected to Enola Holmes, the young detective she has portrayed since the franchise began in 2020. The character is defined by curiosity, independence and a refusal to accept the restrictive expectations imposed on women in her historical environment. Brown has also worked as a producer on the films, giving her influence over the creative direction of a project built around a determined female protagonist. The franchise has therefore become an important example of the stories she now considers valuable from both an artistic and maternal perspective.
In Enola Holmes 3, the detective confronts a conflict between her personal aspirations and professional responsibilities. Her hopes for a future with Lord Tewkesbury are interrupted by the disappearance of her brother Sherlock Holmes, forcing her to undertake a dangerous investigation in Malta. Brown once again shares the screen with Louis Partridge, while Henry Cavill returns as Sherlock and Helena Bonham Carter appears as the Holmes family matriarch. The story continues the franchise’s combination of mystery, adventure and female empowerment.
Brown also compared her current life with Hannah Montana, the Disney series she watched during childhood. She recalled being fascinated by a protagonist who lived simultaneously as an ordinary teenager and a famous performer, describing that balance as heroic. Now, Brown feels that her own existence reflects a similar division between international celebrity and private family life. Motherhood has intensified her determination to preserve that separation while continuing to develop her career.
During the promotional conversations, Brown also recalled an unsuccessful audition from the beginning of her professional journey. Between the ages of 11 and 12, she completed a screen test with Hugh Jackman for a film connected to the Wolverine universe but did not receive the role. She later acknowledged feeling devastated by the rejection, believing another young performer had delivered a stronger audition. The part of Laura, also known as X-23, ultimately went to Dafne Keen in the 2017 film Logan.
Shortly after that disappointment, Brown was selected to portray Eleven in Stranger Things, the Netflix series that transformed her into an international star. She participated in all five seasons before production concluded in 2024, describing her final day on set as an emotional graduation after spending much of her adolescence with the cast and crew. The experience established her as one of the most recognizable performers of her generation and opened opportunities in acting, producing, publishing and entrepreneurship. Her transition from child star to adult artist now includes the additional responsibility of building a family.
Motherhood has not led Brown to withdraw from entertainment, but it has changed the meaning she assigns to her work. Each project is now filtered through questions of representation, legacy and the cultural environment her daughter will inherit. By choosing characters who challenge limitations and expand the presence of women on screen, Brown hopes to contribute to a film industry offering young audiences more possibilities. Her daughter may never choose to follow her career, but she has already changed the direction in which that career is moving.
A new generation can transform both life and artistic purpose.