David Harbour Clears the Air on Those Millie Bobby Brown Rumors

As Stranger Things 5 approached last winter, David Harbour managed to get fragged on two fronts: Lily Allen ripped him up and down on her new album and the Daily Mail ran a report claiming Millie Bobby Brown had filed a complaint against Harbour for alleged bullying. While Harbour, Brown, and the Stranger Things creators did some pretty solid damage control to squash the rumors, the situation was not helped when Harbour suddenly disappeared from celebration events for the show’s massive finale.

Thanks to a lengthy new interview with Variety, we now have some insights from Harbour and Brown on what went down. First, his absence from the rest of the Stranger Things festivities has an explanation that’s been corroborated by online video from that time: Harbour had a breakdown, which he readily admits to. The actor has been open about his bipolar disorder that’s exacerbated by stress, and the double whammy of the Stranger Things circus plus Allen’s album certainly qualifies. (Not that he didn’t deserve being put on blast, but it was objectively a stressor.)

As for the reporting about on-set issues with Brown, Harbour calls the timing “weird” before making it clear that he and Brown are cool:

“Straight up, Millie and I are working on several …” He stops himself from revealing their plans. “You’ll see more of me and Millie — 10 years wasn’t enough. There is a special bond there. I love her. She loves me.”

“Obviously I changed so much from Season 1 to Season 5, and David was there through all of it,” Brown tells Variety by email. “Over time, our relationship became much more collaborative creatively. When you work with someone for that many years, we could really push each other emotionally in scenes. Even though the series has ended, there’s still a lot of gratitude. Getting to share that experience with him for so many years is something I’ll always remember and value.”

Their responses harken back to the initial statements from the Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy that the set really was like a family as its child stars became teens and young adults. (Or senior citizens if you want to joke about their ages in the finale.) Harbor took that theme even further by saying that Stranger Things’ increasingly hefty price tag made that dynamic all the more fraught:

“It’s a show that went on for 10 years. We worked together for 10 years during her formative teenage years, playing father and daughter. I don’t know if people have families and friends that you spend a lot of time with for 10 years — you occasionally get in arguments, disagreements.” But the comparison only goes so far, which Harbour acknowledges. “In families, it’s OK because you’re just in a disagreement and then you come back together. The problem with a billion-dollar show is that there’s just hundreds of people who want to get involved.”

From his perspective, whatever happened was easily resolved — but working on a megahit can make matters more vexed. “It’s simple,” he says. “It was just a simple rupture-and-repair thing that, once we cleared everybody out of the way and talked to each other, we’re fine. Everyone nowadays is very scared of talking about things. People are very scared of being human. It’s unfortunate, because I don’t know how to navigate this weird media world. But it was completely normal, and we adore each other and always have.”

Obviously, we don’t know what happened between Harbour and Brown, and all of this could be carefully calculated PR. But at this stage in her career, Brown could have kept mum if she and Harbour aren’t good. She also bailed on Stranger Things events at the end there — like Harbour, she was very ready to be done with the show — so she has the clout to chart her own course.

At the end of the day, Millie Bobby Brown is still Netflix’s golden goose. (Enola Holmes 3, anyone?)
If she wants to “no comment” Variety, I doubt anyone will bat an eye.