'You' star Madeline Brewer claps back at trolls comparing her with 'Rumpelstiltskin'

Madeline Brewer, who was the latest addition to You’s already star studded cast this season, has shocked fans after her latest move.

Despite the show addressing toxic masculinity and misogyny, fans of the series have stormed the internet trolling the 33-year-old star for being a part of it after the drama’s bombshell fifth and final season. 

In the final season of the psychological thriller, romance show, which released on the streaming giant on April 24, 2025, Madeline’s character was introduced as Louise Flannery, who met Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, under the persona of Brontë, a quirky book enthusiast, who helped take him down to bring justice for his past victims.

Unfortunately, after the drama came to an end after seven years, the actress found herself dealing with some toxic and vicious comments online.

However, instead of ignoring them and taking the high road, the actress confidently took on the trolls, calling out haters one by one by replying to their comments on social media. 

Under several posts about the hit series, fans of the show criticised not only the character, but the actress who played the part as well, with one expressing that the The Handmaid's Tale star had "ruined the show," to which she firmly quipped with "No, I didn't," with a heart emoticon.

Another commented on her appearance stating that she had "ruined the season with her looks," and in the replies she went on to reiterate that she didn't in fact ruin the production. 

An Instagram user also commented on the shape of her chin, and the Cam actress confidently responded with, "I do have great bone structure! Thank you!"

Many binge watchers and admirers of the show seemingly disliked her so much that they went on to compare the actress to Rumpelstilskin from Shrek 3 in attempts to further make fun of her appearance. 

One  dropped a comment under a post calling her by the final antagonist's name from the Shrek film series, but she boldly replied with "Loser."

A user complained about her acting and Madeline took that opportunity to remind them that she has previously been "nominated for an Emmy."

Although with all the negativity, there were fans who came to the actress’ defense on Reddit.

Several users on Reddit defended the young actress on the subreddit and appreciated her for standing up to her trolls.

"I get people hated Brontë, but shaming someone for their looks is below the belt. She also has emotions! People can direct their criticism towards Brontë, but why extend the hate towards her looks?" one posted, requesting people to criticise the character if they had any issues with the role.

Fans under the post went on to question why people can separate Penn from his character Joe, but why can’t they do the same for Madeline.

Another admirer posted on the subreddit asking people to "Leave Madeline alone" because she isn’t the personality she played.

Unfortunately Madeline isn’t the only one who has gone through such an ordeal. Many actors have also witnessed the same thing happened to them, garnering immense backlash in real life for playing a character on screen, like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played Negan on The Walking Dead, got fl***ed off by an elderly woman, Timothy Granaderos on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, and many more as well.