The actor said the encounter was “really traumatising” and “very, very intense and very scary,” adding: “I shut down for three months.”
Why Japan became part of her recovery
Brown said her anxiety only started to ease after a trip to Japan, where she could step away from the pressure and focus on healing.
She explained that she wanted to better understand her anxiety before starting a family with Jake Bongiovi, the son of Jon Bon Jovi. Brown and Bongiovi married last year and later announced in August that they had adopted a baby girl.
The couple has kept much of their family life private. Brown, who now goes by Millie Bonnie Bongiovi, has described motherhood as a “beautiful, amazing journey.”
“Anxiety is the worst thing ever and I knew I needed to heal and I needed to figure out my anxiety before starting a family,” she said. “I needed to understand what was happening.”
She described the Japan trip as “the most amazing experience,” saying: “It took me out of the cycle.”
How she learned to recognize panic in public
Brown said that when she looks back at old red carpet appearances, she can now see moments where she was experiencing what she called a “full-blown panic attack,” even though she had no way to remove herself from the situation at the time.
That reflection lands harder because Brown was so young when fame hit. Brown became globally recognizable as a child through Stranger Things, and public appearances became part of the job long before most people have figured out how to handle a crowded room, let alone cameras and shouting strangers.
She said she now has healthier ways to respond when anxiety builds, instead of letting it spiral for months.
Meditation, however, had not always worked for her. “Meditation has never been anything that’s worked for me because of my mind and how I’ve not been able to shut out thoughts,” she said.
The moment she says helped her reset
Brown said part of what made the Japan trip meaningful was the chance to feel anonymous, or at least to be treated that way.
“Nobody knew who I was, and if they did, they didn’t care in that moment,” she said. “It was amazing and I will never forget the feeling.”
She also connected the experience to her faith, saying she believes in “divine intervention.”
“I think that was a moment where God was like, you need to take a break and you need to sit there and figure out what’s going on in your head,” she said. “I think that really healed me in a lot of ways. It healed a lot of me.”
Brown has spoken before about more spiritual ideas, including her belief in past lives. She previously said she believes she was once a closeted gay soldier who died after being killed with a sword through the spine.
Her Enola Holmes 3 co-star Louis Partridge was not persuaded, saying he does not believe in past lives, much to Brown’s disappointment.
For all the strange side notes, the central point of the interview was direct: Brown says a terrifying encounter left her struggling for months, and she had to find practical ways to regain control before entering a new chapter of her life.
