Journalist called out by Millie Bobby Brown over 'ageing looks' responds to criticism

One of the journalists called out by Millie Bobby Brown for writing about the way she's 'aged' has spoken out after getting the "wake up call she needed".

For those who missed it, the Stranger Things actor took to Instagram in a lengthy video, detailing how she "grew up in front of the world, and for some reason, people can’t seem to grow" with her, naming and shaming a number of writers who had made disrespectful comments about her appearance for millions to read.

"They act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things Season One. And because I don’t, I’m now a target", she told her 63.5 million followers.

"We always talk about supporting and uplifting young women, but when the time comes, it seems easier to tear them down for clicks. Disillusioned people can’t handle seeing a girl become a woman on her terms, not theirs. I refuse to apologize for growing up."

And she's right, there has been a major shift in the media landscape in recent years, and there's really no excuse to comment on the appearances of women (famous or not) - it's just a shame it took the actor publicly calling people out to get the message across.

Among the articles called out was that of freelance journalist, Lydia Hawken, who had written a piece for Femail (Mail Online's lifestyle section), titled: 'Why are Gen Zers like Millie Bobby Brown ageing so badly?'

Now, in a TikTok video, she's issued an apology to the 21-year-old, detailing how she's this week "had a flavour of what it's like to be scrutinised", and claims she's been receiving daily death threats, and threats to her family.

"Sometimes I get to pitch stories that are my own, that I truly want to write, but more often than not, I get assigned stories that have been decided upon by an editorial team. The story about Millie Bobby Brown fell into the latter category", she explained of how the story came to be in the almost-three-minute clip.

She continued: "This is not an excuse, or me asking for sympathy, because I still wrote it.

"I was also totally unprepared to deal with the consequences of being named by Millie, as one of the journalists involved in this reporting."

Hawken has confirmed that she's since resigned from Mail Online, vowing never to work with them again, and hopes other young women in newsrooms will learn from her mistake.

While Hawken has since faced a wave of negativity in relation to the reporting, some have chosen to forgive her for recognising where things went wrong.

"As a young woman in journalism I empathise with you entirely and can only say some people in these comments don’t understand the pressures and hierarchies within newsrooms", one person wrote in the comments section.

"Love the people in the comments judging you because you judged someone. This was a mature and considered response. You live, you learn", another added.

Someone else chimed in: "Well done and stepping up and saying you were wrong, never easy to do, least of all on a public forum. We all make mistakes in life."

Let this be a lesson to us all.

Why not read...

Millie Bobby Brown fires back at 'bullying' of her appearance: 'I will not be shamed'

Matt Lucas apologises to Millie Bobby Brown over 'bullying' claims

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