Despite Playing the Iconic Doll Onscreen, Margot Robbie Admits She Didn’t Own Barbies as a Little Girl

Margot Robbie on a global press tour for "Barbie" — (Image credit: Getty)

The week we’ve been waiting for all summer is finally here—Barbie hits theaters this Friday. There’s literally no way you weren’t aware of this, but Margot Robbie stars as the titular character, and not only transformed into the iconic doll for the film but has truly embodied her throughout the movie’s global press tour, which was (devastatingly) cut short by the SAG-AFTRA strike that began last week and prohibited actors from taking part in promotional appearances for their work. (We rounded up all of her looks from the tour—and they are even more stunning when seen all in one place than they already were day-to-day.)

Interestingly enough, per People, Robbie said that she “wasn’t actually that much of a Barbie girl as a kid,” and that she doesn’t remember even owning one of the dolls: “I didn’t personally have any that I can recall,” she said, when asked if she remembered playing with Barbies when growing up in Australia. “My sister did, and I remember my cousin did. I would play with my cousin’s.”

Instead, Robbie said, “I was more of a roll-around-in-the-mud kind of gal.” When she did play with dolls, the Barbies she chose were “all weird,” she said. “I think they were all so janky because they were not well cared for.”

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That said, the film has been a passion project for Robbie, one she said she’s surprised came to fruition. “I’ll never forget, after talking to [writer and director] Greta Gerwig for years, I sat down and read the script,” she said. “There was a joke on page one and I was like ‘They’re never going to let us make this movie,’” Robbie continued, speaking of Barbie’s parent company, Mattel. “But they did!”

Though she may not have played with Barbies much as a kid, she has gained a deeper respect for the doll through filming the movie, she said. When asked what inspired her the most about the project, Robbie said “The idea that I am enough. Barbie can be anything and everything, but even if you’re just making it through life, you’re crushing it. I found that very therapeutic.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.