Millie Bobby Brown, a Child, Is Sorry for Pretending to Wash Her Face

When I was in my early teens, I sang Fiona Apple into a tape recorder and proceeded to play the resultant recording over the phone to my crush, who laughed so hard he accidentally hung up his cordless phone. I did this because the ages of 12 through 16 are one long string of embarrassments threaded by the universal truth that newly pubescent children want praise and attention but cannot yet tell which bids will earn good attention and which will earn ridicule. For example, Millie Bobby Brown, a 15-year-old girl working full-time as an actor, regularly earns praise for pretending to be a psychic orphan but has also recently earned ridicule for pretending to wash her face.

In what looks to be video shot on a cameraphone propped against a bathroom mirror, Millie Bobby Brown, Mills to her friends and customers, simulates removing her makeup with her new Florence by Mills skincare line while wearing a full face of makeup and simply rubbing dry hands against foundation-covered skin. It’s the kind of thing a teenager might post to social media and remove hours later when the whole school starts laughing. Unfortunately for Mills, the whole school is the entire internet, where fans were apoplectic at the trickery and the video earned international media attention.

Today, the child has felt compelled to issue an apology to the entire world for behaving childishly:

“I’m still learning the best way to share my routines as I get to know this space better — I’m not an expert,” Brown wrote in an Instagram post. “I thought doing a quick video replicating my personal process for that night was okay, but that’s not what was conveyed. I understand, I appreciate all of your feedback on this journey, please keep sharing your thoughts and I will too! ily guys x #loveandlight.”

Love and light, Millie. Please consider not being a child actor anymore because it is almost certainly bad for you.