I’m eternally grateful for Neighbours – it was perfect training for Hollywood, says Margot Robbie
HOLLYWOOD star Margot Robbie has told how she will be “eternally grateful” to soap Neighbours after it launched her acting career.
Margot, 32, who began her TV work as Ramsay Street’s Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, appeared in the show’s finale, which aired on Friday.
And the A-lister — who filmed scenes in LA but sent 37 bottles of champagne to the Melbourne set — told how the final episode marks: “The end of an era.”
Margot, who is now Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, said: “I owe so much to Neighbours.
“There are so many of us that owe them for giving us a big break.
“It wasn’t just about giving me a break either — it gave me a real chance to work on my craft. It was the perfect training for Hollywood, and I will always be eternally grateful.”
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The Sun on Sunday first revealed in March that Neighbours was being axed after 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes.
Friday’s finale saw Margot return alongside a host of other fan favourites, including Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Holly Valance and Natalie Imbruglia.
Anne Charleston, who played Ramsay Street legend Madge Bishop, also returned — with her late character appearing as a ghost.
And remembering her time on the soap, Margot told how it was only when she moved to London that she realised how widespread its popularity was.
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She went on: “It really is an end of an era for fans.
"When I lived in London, I understood at its peak how big it was.
"People would come up to me and tell me how they watched it every day after school.”
Margot, who grew up on a fruit farm on Australia’s Gold Coast, moved to LA after leaving Neighbours in 2011 and landed a role in US TV show PanAm.
But it was her part opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street that caught the eye of movie bosses after the film was released in 2013.
Soon after she moved to South London and shared a four-bedroom pad in Clapham that was dubbed “The Manor” with six other friends.
Her housemates were pals she had met filming wartime flick Suite Francaise — including the assistant director and her now-husband Tom Ackerley.
‘LOVE ISLAND REMINDS ME OF LIVING IN LONDON’
And Margot told how she loves watching Love Island because it reminds her of that time in her life.
She said: “This hasn’t been the best Love Island season ever, but that hasn’t stopped me watching it.
"Paige has probably been my favourite — but for pure entertainment I think Davide and Ekin-Su have made the season.
"Love Island reminds me of living in London — watching it with my girlfriends when everybody was home from work.”
Margot went on to star in 2015’s Focus opposite Will Smith and played The Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn in 2016 hit Suicide Squad.
The following year she and Tom — who married in Venice Beach in 2016 — swapped their Clapham flat for a £2.1million villa in Hollywood.
But Margot said leaving London had not been an easy move for the couple.
She said: “It was such a hard decision to leave — but I just couldn’t keep living out of a suitcase.”
Back in LA, Margot went on to star as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya — which she also produced — and alongside Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron in Bombshell.
Both roles won her Oscar nominations.
She also starred as rising movie star Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, appearing with former co-star Leonardo and Brad Pitt.
And next year will see her hit the big screen in neon pink and sky-high heels after she was cast as Barbie in a romantic comedy about the iconic doll.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film also stars Ryan Gosling as Barbie’s love interest Ken.
Margot said: “When I read the script, I genuinely thought, ‘This is one of the best scripts I have ever read’.
"I needed to be part of this story.
"I remember speaking with Ryan before we started shooting and we were just so excited to be part of this incredible script.
"Whatever people expect the Barbie movie to be like, they need to totally re-think it because Greta has done something special here.
‘SOME VERY BRAVE PEOPLE SPEAKING OUT’
“And Barbie is such a role model.
"She was a surgeon back in the early 70s when a tiny percentage of females were applying for medical school.”
It is expected that in the hands of director Greta — whose last films were Lady Bird and Little Women — Barbie will get a thoroughly modern makeover.
It comes after Hollywood’s own makeover in recent years following the #MeToo scandals.
That movement was the focus of 2019 movie Bombshell, which was based on the sexual harassment of women working at Fox News.
And Margot, who starred as Kayla Pospisil, told at the time that it was only while working on the film that she realised what sexual harassment was.
She told Net A Porter: “I’m in my late twenties, I’m educated, I’m worldly, I’ve travelled, I have my own business, and I didn’t know. That’s insane.
“I didn’t know that you could say, ‘I have been sexually harassed’ without someone physically touching you.
"That you could say, ‘That’s not ok’. I had no idea.”
Margot also said that she has experienced harassment, but “not in Hollywood”, adding: “I struggle to find many women who haven’t experienced sexual harassment on some level.
“I now know because I’ve researched what constitutes sexual harassment so as to have negative connotations for your job and how you get paid.”
“So yes, lots of times. And to varying degrees of severity throughout
my life.”
Speaking last week, Margot went on: “I think things have changed in Hollywood over the past few years.
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“There have been some difficult conversations and very brave people.
“We live in hope that all this courage that has been shown means nothing like this ever happens again.”
