She is one of the Hollywood’s newest and most adored princesses. He is the handsome son of bona fide rock’n’roll royalty.
That Millie Bobby Brown of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things and Jake Bongiovi, son of the legendary Jon Bon Jovi, would meet and fall for each other feels almost like a predestined fairy tale. Millie and Jake are both young and beautiful and exciting and in love. And they both actually seem like really nice people! Isn’t this the way all fairy tale romances are supposed to work?
After Dating for 2 Years, Millie and Jake Are Engaged!
And now, two years after the rumors that the two may be dating which gave way to a well-documented romance, it looks like Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi are engaged to be married!
The 19-year-old actress shared a snapshot on Instagram that found her being embraced from behind by the 20-year-old Jake Bongiovi, and a very sparkly diamond ring can clearly be seen on her finger (OMG, how can you miss it!?). Enormous diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left hand aside, the pair’s high-wattage smiles say it all!
"I've loved you three summers now, honey, I want 'em all," Brown wrote as the caption beneath the picture, referencing lyrics to Taylor Swift’s "Lover."
Millie Revealed Her Engagement Ring on Instagram
Though fans around the world immediately recognize her as the star of Stranger Things, we have to declare that this major announcement from Millie is probably one of the “Sweeter Things” to happen in her life!
Oh, and Taylor herself gave her seal of approval by liking the pic!
For his part, Jake Bongiovi shared his own post on the event, which featured a pair of pictures of the young couple. In one shot, they look off in different directions, and in the other, he and she lovingly gaze into each other’s eyes.
“Forever ????” read Jake’s caption.
Wow!
Jake and Millie Are Favorites of the Paparazzi
We’ve gotta admit, we were floored by the news of Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi’s impending nuptials (a marriage date has not yet been announced). It’s particularly surprising in that what feels like only a few years ago, we had no idea who Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi even were!
By now, though, Millie Bobby Brown’s story is well-known. Born in Marbella, Malaga, Spain to British parents, Millie was initially raised in Spain until she was four years old, and then in Bournemouth, England until she was eight.
Her very active family then moved to Orlando, Florida, where Millie began her acting career at the tender age of ten with appearances on the fantasy-drama television show Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and the paranormal thriller series Intruders.
Millie Rose to Fame as "Eleven" on Stranger Things
Subsequent guest appearances on such high-profile TV series as NCIS, Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy primed Millie Bobbie Brown for her breakthrough role as the inimitable “Eleven” on the smash hit sci-fi-horror-suburban-drama mash-up Stranger Things.
The psychokinetically-charged, telepathically-fueled Eleven quickly went on to become the acclaimed TV show’s breakout character over the course of its first four seasons. Eleven (a tattoo of which Brown proudly adorns on her wrist—it’s one of seven tattoos she sports!) will undoubtedly continue to play an integral role in what’s said to be the show’s upcoming final season, which is tentatively scheduled to arrive in early 2024.
Since taking on the role of Eleven when she was only 12 years old, Millie has emerged as a worldwide sensation in her own right, beginning with being named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine, making her the youngest person to ever be included on the list. That same year, Millie became the youngest person appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. The Hollywood Reporter also ranked her as one of Hollywood’s Top 30 Stars under the age of 18.
They Made Their Red Carpet Debut at the BAFTAs
Millie has since made her feature film debut (in Godzilla: King of the Monsters); starred in the popular movie Enola Holmes and its equally successful sequel (both of which she also co-produced); launched her own beauty line, “Florence by Mills;” and was tapped by the Union of European Football Associations to serve as the ambassador of the UEFA’s “Together #WePlayStrong” campaign.
Clearly, Millie Bobby Brown was keen on establishing and maintaining her career from the outset. Though as a younger teenager she was said to be romantically linked to rugby player Joseph Robinson and musician Jacob Sartorius, we can’t imagine that those relationships were much more than the kind of brief flings that are often enjoyed by teens.
But that was all before she met the man to whom she’s now engaged—someone who at first consideration seem to be just another guy from Jersey…who happened to be the son of a legendary rock’n’roll star.
Three Interesting Facts About Jake Bongiovi
He’s a Jersey Boy, Just Like His Rock’n’roll Father!
Though Jacob Hurley Bongiovi was born in Palm Beach, Florida in 2002, the man we know as Jake Bongiovi was mostly raised in the Garden State of New Jersey, like his longtime married parents Jon Bon Jovi and Dorothea Hurley before him. Jake is the third of Jon and Dorothea’s children, born after his older sister and brother Stephanie and Jesse, respectively, and a year before his younger brother, Romeo.
Jake Bongiovi attended the Pennington High School in Jersey, a private, co-ed college preparatory institution, and then began his freshman year at Syracuse University as the COVID pandemic reared its ugly head across the world. At this point, his status at Syracuse is unclear.
While the oldest of the Bongiovi progeny appear to be living on their own, the entire Bongiovi family of six found themselves living under the same roof again during the pandemic summer of 2020—a situation that rocker Jon appears to have loved!
"We spent more time in [our New Jersey] house than we have in over a decade," he told People. "For about a month, our whole family was intact. Then the big kids finally said, 'We're out,' and made a run for it."
"Our focus has always been family first and making sure that people are doing well," Dorothea added, who clearly believes in the value and strength of a tight-knit family. "We like each other. We spent a lot of time together, and it was more than we have spent in many years, but it was nice."
Jake is Making it Happen as a Model!
Career-wise, Jack is signed to IMG Models of New York and Hollywood’s powerful WME Agency in Los Angeles, so he’s moving in a direction that has proven to be remarkably successful for his fiancé—modelling and acting! And it seems to be working out for Jake, as well: soon after joining IMG, he landed his first magazine cover on spring-summer 2022 edition of Man About Town, clad in an oh-so-stylish Louis Vuitton outfit.
He’s a Budding Actor with Two Movies Under His Belt!
As for Jake’s acting, he’s already scored two substantial film roles, the first in the collegiate romantic comedy Sweethearts, co-starring Kiernan Shipka. Then, his latest film finds him treading into the rock’n’roll terrain his father occupied so well over the past four decades. The movie is entitled Rockbottom and it finds Jake portraying a Gen-Z rock musician trying to reunite an Eighties hair metal band known as CougarSnake whose career hit the skids just as it was beginning due to an internal clash ignited by “artistic differences.”
Well, as Jon Bon Jovi might say (or sing): “It's a bitch and life's a rollercoaster ride -- The ups and downs will make you scream sometimes.”
(Sweethearts is currently in post-production and Rockbottom is about to start principal photography.)
The Couple's Romance Is Documented on Instagram
As for more personal matters, Jake Bongiovi used to keep the details of his personal life on the down-low—at least, as much as he could given that his father is a rock’n’roll legend.
But that personal life has become far more public in the years since he became linked to Millie Bobby Brown and the inevitable attention that comes with being the model-actor boyfriend of a hot, hot, hot young actress!
And it’s no surprise that it’s become next to impossible to keep things under the radar when Millie Bobby Brown has a staggering 63.4 million followers on Instagram. (For what it’s worth, growing social influencer Jake ain’t no slouch on Instagram, either, with a healthy 1.4 million followers of his own.)
Where Did Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Meet?
So how did the couple of the year actually meet? Well, according to Millie Bobby Brown, she and Jake Bongiovi met in the spring of 2021 over Instagram (or as Millie put it with a sly smile in a November, 2022 WIREDinterview on Youtube, “Instagram. The old Instagram.”)
"We were friends for a bit and then, what can I say?" she laughed.
Despite all the whispers of a blossoming romance that began to emerge that spring, both Millie and Jake publicly claimed to be just friends. Or, as Jake put it, "Bff’s."
But the dating rumors quickly escalated after Jake shared a pic of the two together in a car. And it was only a few weeks later that a paparazzi photo of the pair walking through Manhattan hand-in-hand, with Jake toting Millie’s dog Winnie in a large denim bag, popped up online. Winnie has grown pretty popular in her own right as Brown has been known to keep her near to help ease anxiety when she travels.
From that point on, it was clear that the pair was already leaving their BFF status behind them—if, indeed, that “friends” period ever even existed!
They Now Appear Regularly on the Red Carpet
In early November, Millie posted a photo on her Instagram of Jake and her sharing a kiss while riding England’s famed London Eye Ferris wheel. And with that photo, which found the two warmly embracing as the London night twinkled beneath them, Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi became Instagram official.
The word was out…and the pictures were everywhere! Beginning with Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi’s red carpet debut at the 2022 BAFTA Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in March, Millie and Jake jumped to the top of the list of the most photographed couples of the year.
Though that night was not strictly about the pair, Millie presented a BAFTA with Florence Pugh for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated herself for an award for Stranger Things But the media frenzy ensued after Jake Bongiovi and Millie Bobbie Brown took a stroll down the red carpet and the world raised its collective eyebrows!
Millie Bobby Brown Spends Christmas With Boyfriend Jake Bongiovi
And so it began—and continued with their appearances on the carpet at various events and gatherings, led by the premieres of the fourth season of Stranger Things and Millie’s film Enola Holmes 2. On top of that, the two have been all over each other’s social media for months, with fans and followers noting their every stroll, vacation, and evening out.
Even their time together over this past holiday season—their second season as a couple—received some healthy coverage, with Millie posting a time-lapse video in November featuring the couple trimming her Christmas tree and dressing her beloved Winnie in an adorable sweater. It was all set to the tune of self-proclaimed “Queen of Christmas” Mariah Carey’s festive “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Millie and Jake Have Not Set a Wedding Date...Yet!
And then, just this month, on April 11, came the announcement that Jake Bongiovi and Millie Bobby Brown were engaged! Not surprisingly, the news prompted a fresh new wave of internet and social media excitement as EVERYONE posted their very reactionary opinions on the admittedly very young Jake and Millie committing to spend the rest of their lives together.
Also not a surprise were the number of comments on how the soon-to-be-spouses (a marriage date has yet to be announced) shouldn’t be planning out their entire lives together at this point. And this despite the fact that Jake’s parents Jon and Dorothea were high school sweethearts who have been together for 40 years and married for more than 30.
And as for the rocker who once declared that there are those out there who give love a bad name, Jon Bon Jovi let it be known that his son’s discovery of a forever love is a reason to celebrate.
In an interview with Andy Cohen on Cohen’s SiriusXM show, Radio Andy, Jon responded candidly—and positively!—to Andy’s query about whether or not he was worried about his son being too young marriage.
I don’t know if age matters, if you find the right partner and you grow together,” said the Grammy Award winner. “My advice really is, growing together is wise.”
He also noted that Jake is just “the latest” of his children to get engaged with three of his four now set to be married.
“I think that all of my kids have found the people that they think they can grow together with,” Bon Jovi said. “And we like them all.”
And of his new future daughter-in-law specifically, the rocker offered that, “Millie is wonderful, her whole family are great. Really, really great. Jake is very, very happy.”
Congratulations to Hollywood's Hottest Couple
The bottom line is that we, as observers—outsiders, really—thrill to watch Jake and Millie from afar, but we do not know them as people. That’s right—they are people before being celebrities. And as observers, we should celebrate what we are seeing before us—a pair of young people who give every indication that they are healthy, happy, supportive and in love with each other. And if they feel that marriage is the next obvious step for them, then the healthiest response we can give is too simply wish them all the best and hope for their happiness.
As one enthusiastic fan noted on Millie and Jake’s social media pages, “let time tell their tale.”
Congratulations!
