David Harbour Admits 'Disagreement' With Millie Bobby Brown and Backlash Over Bullying Claims Led to Mental 'Breakdown'

David Harbour addressed the bullying allegations made by his Stranger Things costar Millie Bobby Brown and the mental "breakdown" he said the scrutiny led to.

"In this weird world we live in where sound bites will be created, I’m trying to figure out how to say this," Harbour, 51, addressed the situation in an interview with Variety published on Wednesday, June 10.

"It's a show that went on for 10 years. We worked together for 10 years during her formative teenage years, playing father and daughter," he explained. "I don’t know if people have families and friends that you spend a lot of time with for 10 years — you occasionally get in arguments, disagreements."

Stranger Things premiered on Netflix in 2016 and quickly became a breakout hit, attracting millions of viewers despite minimal marketing.

The sci-fi drama sees Brown, 22, as Eleven, a young girl with powerful psychokinetic abilities, who befriends a group of boys in fictional Hawkins, Ind., as they fight off supernatural threats from other dimensions.

Along the way, Brown’s character is adopted by Hawkins’ police chief, Jim Hopper, played by Harbour.

One month before the series finale was set to premiere, multiple outlets reported that Brown filed allegations of bullying and harassment against Harbour before production of Season 5 kicked off earlier that year.

Harbour touched on the allegations during the interview, describing his bond with Brown as being like "family."

"In families, it’s OK because you’re just in a disagreement and then you come back together. The problem with a billion-dollar show is that there’s just hundreds of people who want to get involved," he told the outlet.

Harbour said it was a "simple rupture-and-repair thing" that happened between him and Brown.

"Once we cleared everybody out of the way and talked to each other, we’re fine. Everyone nowadays is very scared of talking about things," he concluded. "People are very scared of being human. It’s unfortunate, because I don’t know how to navigate this weird media world. But it was completely normal, and we adore each other and always have."

He confessed to skipping celebrations for the Stranger Things finale in December 2025 after having a "breakdown" due to his public image taking a beating.

"I do suffer from some confusing stuff — it’s confusing as h---" he continued of his bipolar diagnosis. "I think a lot of people have a friend or a brother or a co-worker that deals with mental health stuff, and they’re probably pretty confused when that person gets depressed or gets manic or has an episode."

Brown echoed Harbour's sentiments in a statement obtained by the outlet.

"Obviously I changed so much from Season 1 to Season 5, and David was there through all of it," the Damsel star said via email. "Over time, our relationship became much more collaborative creatively. When you work with someone for that many years, we could really push each other emotionally in scenes. Even though the series has ended, there’s still a lot of gratitude. Getting to share that experience with him for so many years is something I’ll always remember and value."