Millie Bobby Brown Explained Her Changing Accent After Social Media Backlash

To promote her new film Damsel, Millie Bobby Brown has been busy giving interviews. She’s addressed topics like the stunt that made her cry, her upcoming wedding, and her adorable dog Winnie, but one of the biggest fan talking points has been her accent. So many fans have weighed in on it lately that Brown eventually decided to “speak to” the situation in an interview with TikToker Max Balegde.

Addressing The Accent Backlash

Following some of her recent interviews, fans asserted that Brown’s British accent has been replaced by an American one. One of the most-liked comments on a YouTube video of her Tonight Show appearance on Feb. 29, for example, claimed she sounds like “she’s doing an impersonation of an American accent.” Another viewer called Brown’s cadence “so American” and yet another lamented her British accent being “barely there anymore.”

Brown didn’t miss the backlash. When Balegde brought up the criticism, she rolled her eyes. At first, she let Balegde defend her and explain how spending a lot of time in another country can affect your accent. Then, she seized on the opportunity to defend herself.

“Let me just speak to that real quick,” Brown said. “So, I’m an actor, I grew up in the public eye, I grew up in America, I come to set and I’m an actor and I adapt. And so I want to mimic people.”

Trying Her Best

“I can’t help that when I’m around my fiancé or when I’m around people like Jimmy Fallon who have a very American accent, I want to replicate it,” Brown added. “And now I’m in England, I want to replicate that.”

Brown further clarified that she isn’t consciously speaking one way or another — it just happens. “I don’t do it intentional[ly], and I’m sorry if it offends you, OK?” she said. “But listen, I’m trying my best.”

A Unique Background

As both Brown and Balegde pointed out, it’s understandable that her accent would shift depending on which accent she’s surrounded by. Though Brown is British, she was born in Spain and lived there until her family moved back to England when she was 4. She also spent much of her childhood in the United States, first in Florida and then in California, because her parents supported her dream of becoming an actor.

“We went through tough times,” Brown told the Daily Mail of her family’s sacrifices in August 2016. Alluding to her breakout success with Stranger Things, she said, “I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen.”