Millie Bobby Brown says internet trolls criticizing her husband, Jake Bongiovi, for not helping carry bags or a stroller misunderstand the situation—she says she planned to handle it herself and that he’s caring but also knows she can do things.
The moment Millie Bobby Brown stepped onto Kylie Kelce’s podcast, she didn’t just talk about marriage. She talked back.
On the episode of Kelce’s “Not Gonna Lie. ” the 22-year-old actress defended her husband. Jake Bongiovi. after critics online branded him a “bad parent” for not helping with their bags or pushing their baby’s stroller. Brown pointed directly to the headline-grabbing version of the story—where a woman is seen carrying everything and people immediately ask. “Where’s your husband?”.
“When did women become incapable of holding their own bags, car seats and stuff? This stems from me holding all of my suitcases and bags and my kid and people are like, ‘Your husband doesn’t hold a single thing.’ Because I’m three miles ahead. I have been planning this all night,” she said.
She added that the outside world doesn’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. “Nobody knows my husband,” Brown continued. She described him as “the most polite, sweet, will-do-anything-for-me” kind of man, while insisting that “he also knows I’m capable.”
The backlash didn’t stay limited to the episode. In the preview clip of the podcast posted on Instagram, Brown drew mixed reactions in the comments. Some viewers backed her empowerment argument. Others pushed back hard—saying the issue wasn’t whether women can carry things. but whether a partner steps in when they see it happening.
One fan wrote: “It’s not really about chivalry when people see you carrying all the bags and ask where your husband is. It’s more about the fact that he sees you carrying everything and doesn’t step up to help. As far as I know, that’s his daughter too.”
Another commenter agreed with Brown, writing, “I’m the same way so I completely get it. My husband is always there but I tell him ‘I got this!’ and he lets me be. He does so much for me, but also knows I can handle my own.”
Brown said she and her husband approach it as a partnership that includes trust. She also referenced the way public scrutiny can cut against messaging that encourages independence. “We’re all about empowering girls and. ‘You got it’ and ‘You don’t need a man.’ But then when I’m like. ‘OK. I can carry my own things. ’ people are like. ‘Where’s your husband?’” she said.
Her defense comes as their relationship continues to draw attention from both fans and critics. Brown married Bongiovi in May 2024, after the couple made their relationship public in March 2022 by walking the red carpet together at the BAFTA Awards in London.
Earlier, Brown had described how she shifted her thinking about what she wanted in her life. Speaking to Glamour in October 2023. she said it was never her intention to be a wife. but when she met Bongiovi. she began thinking. “Oh. I do want this.” She added. “When I met Jake. I just felt I could be loud. He embraced that and encouraged that. And I fell in love with myself while being with him. ” saying. “It was like. ‘Wow. I really love this person because he allows me to love myself.’”.
The couple has also expanded their family. They adopted a baby girl in August 2025, and have chosen to keep their daughter’s life private. During the podcast, Brown told Kelce that she “always, always wanted to adopt,” adding: “adoption is love, adoption is forever.”
Brown also spoke about what comes next for her. She said she has plans to carry children herself one day. saying “hopefully one day that’s in my future.” She described how her background shaped that perspective. “I went to school to be a social worker for two years and then I switched to being a vet because I love animals. I loved the aspect of adoption in my social work courses… so meaningful and important,” she said. Brown added that she studied the journey of being a birth mother too. describing how she and Bongiovi “took a lot of time to focus on what that story and what that journey looks like. And then we embarked it.”.
After weeks of online commentary reducing a private family moment to a viral argument about who carries what. Brown’s message landed with a simple. pointed insistence: the story outsiders see isn’t the full one. She says she planned to handle those bags. And she says her husband is there in ways that people can’t measure from a clip—especially when she’s already ahead of the scene.
Millie Bobby Brown Jake Bongiovi parenting critics Kylie Kelce podcast Not Gonna Lie stroller adoption internet trolls