The truth about Milly Shapiro’s condition, career, and sexuality

Milly Shapiro starred in one of the most gruesome horror flicks of recent times: Hereditary. That decapitation scene will live long in fans’ memory and has formed the basis of some of Shapiro’s TikTok videos. In the scene, Shapiro’s character Charlie sticks her head through the window of a moving SUV seeking relief from an allergic reaction to peanuts. 

A telephone pole wipes Charlie’s head clean off her torso. Shapiro told Dread Central that her parents reacted to the scene by touching her head to ensure she was okay. 

Milly has yet to star in anything as big as Hereditary and appears to have gravitated to music. This piece looks at her condition, career, and sexuality. 

Milly Shapiro with her sister Abigail Shapiro and their parents – BroadwayWorld

Milly Shapiro was born on 16th July 2002 to Eric and Michelle Shapiro in Tampa, Florida. She grew up alongside her sister Abigail Shapiro, who’s famous for playing Dorothy Spinner on Doom Patrol. 

The women in the Shapiro family share a rare condition named cleidocranial dysostosis. CCD is a bone disorder that affects bones and teeth. It’s characterized by slow teeth growth and deformity of the collarbone. 

Milly’s sister, Abigail, is an outspoken advocate about the condition. Abigail told New York Post that she’s working on getting rare diseases covered by insurance. She said: 

“I also want to speak up about [CCD] now because, as a young female, the beauty standard is almost impossible to adhere to. I want to inspire others with a rare disorder of some sort to embrace their imperfections. I feel like you can’t truly flourish until you embrace what you don’t like about yourself.”

In April 2020, Milly talked to The Face about the pressures of maintaining a certain appearance and behaving a certain way when one is a child actor. “For child actor standards, it’s an unwritten rule that you have to have a very neutral appearance, so no dyed hair, shaving your eyebrows or piercings or tattoos, or crazy makeup is a big no,” she said. 

However, Milly’s social media shows that she breaks all the preset rules about child actor presentation: she has dyed hair, crazy makeup, shaved eyebrows, and piercings. 

Milly joined TikTok as a joke alongside her friends. Despite spending plenty of time on the app, her following didn’t grow much. Everything changed when the TikTok algorithm landed on her account. 

“Then a couple weeks ago, it all of a sudden blew up,” she said. “I gained at 20,000 followers and so many views, and it was literally insane and weird. And I was like, ​‘Oh my god.’”

Milly told The Face that it took her a long time to feel confident about her appearance. Before fame, she exclusively wore baggy clothes to avoid attracting attention. Eventually, she learned to embrace and portray her true self. 

Shapiro has been dubbed an e-girl, and though she doesn’t classify herself as an e-girl, she doesn’t mind people believing that she is one. Milly explained:

“I don’t mind, the egirls are cool, I would love to be associated with them, but it’s funny, because some people were like, ​‘No, she just did that for a few videos, it’s all a stunt.’ I’m like, ​“No, that’s just how I dress, guys, I swear.”

Milly gets a lot of negative comments about aspects of her appearance she can’t change – aspects associated with CCD. Making independent fashion choices gives her control over her looks, making her feel more comfortable. She explained:

“Wearing very extra, different makeup, having extra hair and dressing differently makes me feel more comfortable, because I’m taking control of what I look like.”

Milly is one of the few actors who’ve landed a role following their first audition. She originated the part of Matilda on a Broadway production of Matilda: The Musical. Milly told Dread Central that the cast recording earned a Grammy nomination:

“We got a Grammy nomination for our cast recording and the four girls who played the role of Matilda, including myself, we all got Honorary Tony Awards for Excellence in Theater.”

A dry period followed before Milly booked her role in Hereditary. Milly moved from a major Broadway production to a big-screen production and felt right at home. 

Milly hated watching herself after the film premiered; she’d waited until the film’s official release before seeing any part of the film. However, she loved how her co-stars performed, creating an outstanding final product. She explained:

“But then I was watching all the other actors, who are all incredibly amazing, and I was totally blown away. I was there for a lot of the filming, but getting to see the final product with the music and the sound and the coloring and all the amazing actors… it was so cool!”

Frequent rejections at auditions have kept Milly away from acting for a while. She told The Face that appearance is such a crucial factor during auditions that you can miss out on a role despite having the requisite talent. However, her love for acting outweighs the pain of rejections:

“If the love for [acting] outweighs the non-enjoyable part, you’ll keep doing it, and I feel like for me, acting is something that I love with all my heart, that even when it’s really hard or really complicated, I still want to do it.”

Milly doesn’t mind being known for her part in Hereditary, but she admits that she hates being compared to her character in real life. “I love Hereditary, I’m always gonna be eternally grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of that, and it’s such a great film. I’m happy that people see me as the Hereditary girl,” Milly explained. 

Shapiro’s extended break from acting has allowed her to focus on music. She constantly encourages people to listen to her releases and is glad that music occupies her time. “17-year-old me would not believe that I do music now and that people besides my best friend heard my songs,” she wrote on TikTok in mid-February 2022. 

College is also in Milly’s plans, thanks a lot to director Ari Aster. “He wrote me a college recommendation letter, which I was very happy for,” Shapiro said. 

Milly Shapiro proudly states on her social media pages that she’s a lesbian. “15-year-old me would be shocked that I am gay but also happy that I admitted it to myself,” she wrote on TikTok.

Based on Milly’s social media post, we suspect she is currently single.