Millie Bobby Brown is opening up about her struggle with anxiety while living life in the spotlight.
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Speaking to Glamour UK the “Stranger Things” star admits how growing up in the public eye has “hindered” her mental health.
“Personally, I struggle with anxiety and in some ways, this has hindered it,” she reveals of being a celebrity. “When I’m having a bad day or I’m feeling very anxious, some things like when people say, ‘Oh, you looked bad at this award show because you looked like this or you looked like that,’ those things make me a little bit more anxious and that hinders me a little bit more.”
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The 16-year-old actress says she has learned to manage her anxiety in a variety of ways, like driving and finding creative things to do.
“I get really anxious when I feel like I don’t have a creative outlet,” she shares.
Continuing, “I’ll be like, ‘Oh, maybe I need to write a song,’ or maybe, ‘I need to think of an idea.’ I found out I’m nonstop just as a person. I don’t really like to sit still. I have learned to manage it in ways that a lot of people learn to manage things like breathing exercises or distracting your mind and my hobbies help distract me from being anxious. Driving takes my anxiety away, actually. I thought it would heighten it. I just don’t think about anything.”
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Brown stars as the titular character in Netflix’s new Sherlock Holmes spin-off, “Enola Holmes”.
Opening up on how the project has helped her to be more comfortable in her own skin, she adds, “I think ‘Enola Holmes’ also taught me that being with yourself, being your own biggest critic, being your own biggest support team is so important, too. I rely on myself to give myself self-love, because that’s just literally the only way I can. I tell myself, ‘Wow. I did good in that,’ and I have to give myself love because that’s important. Everyone has to empower themselves.”
