Millie Bobby Brown’s fans still think of her as a small child, as if her age froze in time since they first saw her.

The English actress and model discussed how people still see her as the child she was when her career began in a recent interview with MTV.

“I’m only 17, but at the end of the day, I’m learning to be a woman. I’m learning to be a young woman. Being a young girl, people watch you grow up, right? And they’ve almost become invested in your growth and your journey. But they aren’t ready to accept the fact that you’re growing up,” she tells MTV News.

Brown then addressed the backlash she has experienced as a result of some of her red-carpet clothing choices.

“So I wear a crop top and people are like, ‘She’s 10.’ I’m like, ‘No, I mean, I am 17.’ That’s a thing that girls do,” she said. “Or I wear high heels. Or I wear an outfit to an award so and they’re like, ‘She looks 50. ‘ No, it’s because you’ve watched me since I was 10. That’s why you think that.”

Millie Bobby Brown learned that adjusting to adulthood was one of the most challenging aspects of her fame, since her millions of followers refuse to let go of her prior child persona. “I think that’s what I found has been quite difficult: the transitioning period,” she remarked.

“They’re not accepting it and I’ve completely accepted it. ​You know, I’m ready. ​I’m like, ‘It’s been a while. ​Let me wear a high heel!’ ​I’m not going to be playing those young girls anymore and it’s kind of like I have 50 million people [who are] like my parents.”

“My parents are like, ‘Yay! Thank God. You’re 17.’ Like, “Put on a pair of high heels. Let’s go!'”

“The most important thing to me is that I don’t want anything to hold me back.” She went on to say, “I want to evolve. And I don’t want this industry to hold me back from evolving and telling stories that I feel like have to go with my age.”

This isn’t the first time the teen has talked about the depressing remarks she’s had regarding her appearance.

“It’s always difficult to dress for a red carpet event because a lot of people have opinions,” Millie told Harper’s Bazaar in 2019. “Unfortunately, you say you won’t listen to it, but you actually kind of have to.”

“For me, I sit there and think, I’m not going to listen to what they have to say, journalists or whoever wants to write badly about my inappropriate outfit,'” she continued.