David Harbour opens up on Millie Bobby Brown rift, Lily Allen divorce album and mental health breakdown

Breaking his silence

In an interview published by Variety on June 10, 2026, David Harbour addressed the rumors and personal turmoil that followed him for nearly a year. The Stranger Things star, 51, said that a November 2025 Daily Mail story claiming co-star Millie Bobby Brown had filed a bullying and harassment complaint against him was false and "came out in a weird way". The article, published a week after Lily Allen released her breakup album West End Girl, triggered a mental health crisis for Harbour, who has spoken openly about having bipolar disorder. "I had a breakdown," he told Variety. The sequence of events put him under extreme stress.

The Millie Bobby Brown rumor

Harbour described his relationship with Brown as akin to family, with occasional arguments during their decade working together on Stranger Things. "We worked together for 10 years during her formative teenage years, playing father and daughter," he said. "In families, it's OK because you're just in a disagreement and then you come back together." He acknowledged that his own mental health struggles sometimes caused "embarrassing" behavior on set. "Under times of extreme stress, that can cause somewhat erratic behavior, and it's embarrassing, and I'm ashamed of it," he said. Despite the tabloid report and a reported Netflix investigation, Harbour and Brown appeared arm in arm at the Stranger Things season five premiere in Los Angeles in November 2025. Brown told Variety via email that "over time, our relationship became much more collaborative creatively" and she felt "a lot of gratitude." Harbour promised future projects together: "You'll see more of me and Millie -- 10 years wasn't enough."

Responding to Lily Allen's album

Harbour broke his silence on West End Girl, the October 2025 album in which Allen, his ex-wife, details allegations of infidelity and emotional manipulation during their marriage. "I do believe that it is the privilege of every artist to use their experience to create art, and so I respect her for doing that," he said. When pressed about the album's specifics, he added: "Stories are complex... It wasn't my experience." The album, Allen's first in seven years, reached No. 10 on the Top Album Sales chart and earned her wide acclaim. Harbour, however, said the aftermath was "weird" and contributed to his mental health breakdown.

It wasn't my experience.

Eleven's fate and the end of Stranger Things

Harbour also reflected on the finale of Stranger Things, in which his character's adoptive daughter Eleven sacrificed herself. He said he had long known the character was doomed: "Right from the very beginning of that series -- you gotta kill her." He felt the show had run its creative course: "At a certain point, you kind of run out of story. We had gone as far with these characters as we could." He joked that Eleven could return if Netflix needed to raise subscription prices. Harbour, now starring in HBO's dark comedy DTF St. Louis, has received his first Emmy nomination buzz for his role as Floyd Smernitch. The interview was conducted at a coffee shop in Manhattan's East Village, near his home.