14-year-old Millie Bobby Brown's moonlight kiss with boyfriend provokes critics

Since she burst onto the scene two years ago, everyone seems to feel they must share an opinion on whether Millie Bobby Brown is too grown up or being treated as too much of a grownup. The Stranger Things actress is in love with boyfriend Jacob Sartorius, and she doesn’t care who thinks 14 is too young for that. That’s what we think she’s saying with every post she shares of herself and the pop star, particularly this latest of the two of them kissing on the beach.

“Moonlight w him,” Brown captioned the beautiful Instagram photo.

Well, not just with him, we have to assume. Someone was taking that photo, right? Unless: 1) Brown really has some of Eleven’s superpowers and can take a selfie like this from afar, or 2) they set a timer on a camera, the way people did in the good old days before smartphones, and this is a very staged romantic moment.

That’s not the question a lot of viewers had when they came across this post. Instead, they were back to wondering if she’s too young to be kissing a boy so intimately.

“Omg y’all aren’t even 15 yet why y’all kissing (I realize Millie has too because of the show) but still,” @katyburkholderr wrote.

“You are acting like you are a grown woman,” @satisfying.koalas said. “Don’t waste your childhood. I feel sad for u. U wont be a normal adult person in the future.”

Even Ariana Grande seemed to be in on this pearl-clutching, writing, “I wasn’t even allowed to leave my house til I was 20.”

On second reading, however, we think Grande’s just being satirical, poking fun at all the haters. Considering that the public is already making comments questioning the wisdom of her new romance with Pete Davidson, Grande knows a thing or two about seeing her love life become a topic of public debate.

Fans were quick to identify with Brown’s perspective too.

“While I’m not a huge fan of the ship I just gotta say that as a teenager myself, we kiss people,” @izz.potter wrote. “We have boyfriends and kiss them. It’s no big secret. She’s a teen. For those who are saying that she’s wasting her childhood, she’s not. She’s moving onto another stage in her life from young child to a teen and then to an adult. But I don’t see how she’s acting like an adult by kissing her teenage boyfriend.”

Some are upset by the photo because back in April there were rumors that Sartorius had cheated on Brown, and the actress deleted all her previous photos of him. By April 16, all was well with the two, as she shared another super-cute pic of them together, without comment.

The debate over whether Brown and Sartorius’s relationship is appropriate began back in January, spurred on by other cute Instagram interactions. At the time, adolescent, child, and family psychologist Barbara Greenberg told Yahoo Lifestyle that everything looked perfectly healthy about their young love.

“It seems like this young man is age-appropriate,” Greenberg says. “From what I’ve seen, their comments back and forth seem to be kind and affectionate.”

At least one other of Brown’s famous Instagram followers, Hailey Baldwin, still agrees with that assessment. She commented on Saturday: “Ugh y’all are CUTE!”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Millie Bobby Brown and boyfriend Jacob Sartorius celebrate Valentine’s Day and a shared love of Chick-fil-A

• Why this photo from the royal wedding captured so much attention

• Harvey Weinstein’s Hollywood accusers share reactions to his arrest

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