- Millie Bobby Brown asked her Stranger Things co-star, Matthew Modine, who plays her “Papa,” to officiate her wedding to Jake Bongiovi.
- Modine not only agreed but also wrote the couple’s wedding vows, making the ceremony deeply personal.
- Brown described the wedding as “real and pure” and the “most meaningful thing” she’s ever done, highlighting the special role Modine played.
- The choice underscores the strong, father-daughter bond the two actors have shared since the first season of the hit Netflix show.
In a move that perfectly blended her on-screen life with a pivotal real-life moment, Millie Bobby Brown chose a very special person to officiate her wedding to Jake Bongiovi: her Stranger Things “Papa,” Matthew Modine. The decision created a beautiful, full-circle moment for the actress and her mentor.
A ‘Papa’s’ Blessing
The idea came to Brown almost immediately. “The second Jake proposed, I said, ‘I know who needs to marry us. It’s my papa,’” the 21-year-old actress revealed earlier this year on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She recalled that when she first called Modine, 66, to ask, he gave a casual “OK, sure.”
It wasn’t until the official invitation was sent eight months later that the reality of the request sank in for Modine. Brown shared his surprised reaction: “He was like, ‘Oh, you really wanted me to do that?’”
The ceremony itself was everything Brown had hoped for. Despite her self-proclaimed nature to direct everything, she found herself swept up in the emotion of the day. “When I went down the aisle, everything became so real and pure, and nothing about that was like a production,” she explained. “It felt so beautiful and the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Crafting the Perfect Vows
Modine took his role as officiant seriously, revealing to Access Hollywood in March 2024 that he was fully licensed to marry people. He didn’t just preside over the ceremony; he helped create it.
“Millie thought it’d be great and then Jake said it would be a great idea,” Modine said. “So I wrote the wedding vows and they loved what I wrote for them to join hands and to become husband and wife.”
Brown and Bongiovi, 23, officially tied the knot in May 2024 after three years of dating.
A Bond Forged on Set
The relationship between Brown and Modine has been a cornerstone of her career. They began working together in 2015 on the first season of Stranger Things, where Modine’s character, Dr. Martin Brenner, was the controlling “Papa” to Brown’s telekinetic Eleven. Off-screen, their dynamic blossomed into a genuine friendship that Modine treasures.
“I met her when she was 11 years old on the set. I fell in love with that innocent 11-year-old child,” Modine shared at a fan convention in October 2024. He praised her as “so focused, so determined” and “so intelligent,” calling their connection “a friendship I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”
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