Why Margot Robbie Was Accused Of Lying About Her Age
Margot Robbie doesn't mind getting older. "I often ask people what has been their favorite age to be in their life. The only people who ever say their 20's are people who are still in their 20's," she told Vogue in 2021. And Robbie's post-20s career got off to a flying start. She was 31 years old when she slipped into the plastic shoes of one of the world's most famous ageless icons: Barbie. Per Variety, the movie about the doll who has it all began filming in early 2022.
In a 1994 interview with Lilith, Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler, said that it was her intention for the toy to be an "adult teenage doll," so Robbie is clearly much older than the blonde mini-mannequin with a permanent smile and perpetually pointed toes. However, the Aussie actor has proved that she can play a wide range of ages. In the 2017 semi-biographical movie "I, Tonya," Robbie portrayed former professional ice skater Tonya Harding over a span of decades. "Some days I was 15 for the first half of the morning, then I'd be 23, then I'd be 40 and then back to 15, so it took a lot of prep to keep that straight," she told Entertainment Weekly.
Robbie did such a convincing job that she won a Critics Choice Award and scored an Oscar nomination, and perhaps it's another testament to her acting ability that some internet conspiracists are convinced that she's much older than she actually is.
What Margot Robbie said about her birthers
There are plenty of celebs who are younger than they seem to be, and stars have even been caught lying about their ages. In 2016, Jezebel writer Bobby Finger tried to convince readers that Margot Robbie fell in the latter category, pointing to a 2008 Sydney Morning Herald article as potential proof of this claim. The piece originally described Robbie as "a 23-year-old actress from the Gold Coast," which would mean she was born in 1985. However, the Biography website lists her birthdate as July 2, 1990.
A correction was later appended to the Sydney Morning Herald piece, noting that Robbie was actually just 17 years old at the time it was published, but the damage was done: Some people just love a good internet conspiracy too much to let it go. Robbie's birthers became so obsessed with their false belief about her age that the actor herself responded to their allegations. "People seem outraged that I'm 24," she told Elle in 2015. "People think I'm a decade older."
According to Robbie, her birthers also trashed her appearance after her performance in the 2013 film "The Wolf of Wall Street" put her on Hollywood's radar. She was brave enough to read internet comments about herself, telling Rotten Tomatoes, "Every comment below was like, 'She's not 22. This is the most ridiculous thing.'" Robbie revealed that many commenters were convinced that she was actually 35, adding, "Someone actually used the word 'haggard.'" Yikes!
Margot Robbie's comments about Will Smith shed light on her actual age
Before Margot Robbie starred alongside Will Smith in the blockbuster "Suicide Squad," she worked with him on the 2015 movie "Focus." While Smith was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, he told news.com.au that Robbie had no idea who he was, and his co-star confessed, "I hadn't seen 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' so [Smith] had to clarify who Jazzy Jeff was." Smith's popular sitcom premiered the year Robbie was actually born, so it makes sense that she was clueless about his early work.
Smith and Robbie were subject to romance rumors during their time working together, which Robbie deemed "rubbish." Smith did, however, play her love interest, despite being 22 years her senior. "I'm equally as surprised as anyone. Initially I thought: 'I would never get cast opposite Will Smith! No-one would ever buy it with the age difference, our personalities,'" she told the Independent. But the two actors just clicked, and their on-screen chemistry was clearly convincing if people thought they were dating.
According to Robbie, she's always had a more mature mindset. While discussing playing the younger love interests of both Smith and her "The Wolf of Wall Street" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, she told the Chicago Tribune, "I don't remember ever thinking like a kid as opposed to thinking like an adult. ... I guess I felt older when I was younger."