David Harbour fears Stranger Things child actors will never grasp reality of normal life

David Harbour fears his young co-stars in Stranger Things will never grasp the reality of normal life.

The 47-year-old actor considers himself lucky he didn't achieve mainstream success until he had reached middle age because he had the tools in place to cope with the recognition that came with the hit Netflix series.

Whereas his young co-stars, who include Millie Bobby Brown, 18, and 19-year-olds Finn Wolfhard and Gaten Matarazzo, will have only ever known what it's like to be famous.

David said: "I see what these kids have to deal with and, look, whatever. I mean, there's a lot of people that go through, I guess, a lot worse stuff.

"But mentally and psychologically, I think getting extremely famous and being so doted on at 11 years old is really hard for the psyche to reconcile with.

"I'm lucky because it didn't happen to me 'til I was 40. So I know what it's like to go to the mall. I know what it's like to be bullied and humiliated … I know what it's like to have to find friends, not to have people come to me. I don't know that they'll ever have that feeling."

David, who started acting on Broadway and made his TV debut on Law and Order, has starred in Stranger Things as police chief Jim Hopper since the Netflix fantasy-horror show started in 2016.

[[nid:580616]]

Now in its fourth season, the show features his character's close relationship with Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown.

But David — who is stepfather to his singer wife Lily Allen's two daughters Marnie and Ethel — said his real-life bond with the actress isn't as close as their on-screen relationship.

Speaking on The Los Angeles Times' The Envelope podcast, he shared: "She (Eleven) is dependent on him (Jim) in a way that Millie has a lot more people around her that she's dependent on."

Millie — who is dating Jon Bon Jovi's aspiring actor son Jake Bongiovi, 20 — has become a household name thanks to Stranger Things and her role in Michael Dougherty's Godzilla franchise.

She has gone on to produce and star in Enola Holmes, a 2020 movie about the younger sister of iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, and the show has a sequel releasing in 2022.

But in 2018, she opened up about feeling "scared and helpless" after being bullied online.

At the end of May 2022, a court also heard she was allegedly stalked by a fan said to have lied to security to get access to her on the set of the Netflix film Damsel.

ALSO READ: From dealing with teenage life to working with a Hollywood icon: Tidbits from Stranger Things season 4 press conference