Key Highlights
- Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi announced the adoption of their second child, a baby boy, via a joint Instagram post on September 17, 2025.
- The couple, who married in 2024, previously adopted a daughter in August 2024 and have chosen to keep both children’s names and faces private.
- Brown has spoken extensively about adoption being a lifelong dream rooted in her childhood and academic studies in social work.
Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi Welcome Second Child Via Adoption
Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, 22, and her husband Jake Bongiovi, 24, have expanded their family. On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, the couple shared a joint Instagram post offering the first glimpse of their newborn son. The black-and-white photograph shows the pair’s hands gently holding the infant’s tiny fingers. Brown, wearing red nail polish and a gold ring spelled out with sparkling gemstones reading “MOM,” captioned the image simply: “Hi little guy!”
From Speculation to Official Announcement
The announcement confirms reports that circulated earlier on Thursday suggesting the couple had adopted for a second time. Eagle-eyed fans initially fueled speculation after noticing Bongiovi wearing a baby carrier strapped to his chest in a recent video posted to Brown’s Instagram page, while she carried their daughter on her hip. A source close to the couple subsequently confirmed the news to PEOPLE, verifying the family had grown to four.
Building a Family in Privacy
The pair shocked fans in August 2024 when they revealed they had become first-time parents a little over a year after their wedding. At the time, Brown shared a statement on Instagram that read: “This summer, we welcomed our sweet baby girl through adoption. We are beyond excited to embark on this beautiful new chapter of parenthood in both peace and privacy. And then there were three.”
The couple has been resolute in shielding their daughter from the public eye. Brown explained their reasoning in a November 2025 interview with Vogue, stating: “For me, it’s really important to protect her and her story until she’s old enough to potentially one day share it herself. It’s not my place to purposefully put her in the spotlight unwillingly. If she chooses to share her personality one day with the world, like I did when I was young, that’s something we’d support.”
A Lifelong Dream Rooted in Childhood and Study
Brown has been open about the fact that adoption was always a definitive part of her life plan. Speaking on the Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce podcast, she traced the desire back to her earliest years: “It was always part of my childhood dreams. Every time I was at home and I was, you know, 5, 6 years old, my parents were like, ‘You had your baby dolls.’ They were all adopted. I never had any of them myself. And I never pretended I was pregnant.”
While she expressed a hope to experience pregnancy in the future—“Hopefully one day [pregnancy is] in my future,” she said—she emphasized that adoption was never a fallback option. “But for me, adoption was always a part of my future. Adoption is love. Adoption is forever.”
Her perspective is also informed by academic pursuit. Brown revealed that her social work coursework profoundly shaped her understanding of the adoption triad: “The aspect of adoption in my social work courses was everything and so, so meaningful and important. Then I also learned speaking to and reading a lot about being a birth mother and what that journey is.”
Why This Matters
The announcement highlights a growing trend among high-profile celebrities to build families through adoption while rigorously maintaining boundaries around their children’s privacy. Brown and Bongiovi’s approach—announcing the arrival but withholding names, faces, and specific details—reflects a conscious effort to decouple their public personas from their children’s right to anonymity. Furthermore, Brown’s candid discussion of her social work education and the perspective of birth mothers brings a nuanced, educated advocacy to the public conversation surrounding adoption, moving beyond celebrity gossip into the realm of social awareness.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi announce their son’s arrival?
The couple announced the adoption of their son on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, via a joint Instagram post captioned “Hi little guy!”
How many children do Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi have now?
They now have two children: a daughter adopted in August 2024 and a son adopted in September 2025.
Why do Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi keep their children’s identities private?
Brown has stated it is important to protect her children’s stories until they are old enough to decide for themselves if they want to share their lives publicly, emphasizing it is not her place to put them in the spotlight unwillingly.
