Today queen of the box office with Barbie, a film she produces and in which she plays the main role, Margot Robbie is however very discreet about her private life. Her love story with her husband since 2016, assistant director Tom Ackerley, is however worth the detour, due to its atypical side and its longevity. From best friends to husband and wife, a look back at a couple like no other in Hollywood.
A meeting on a film set
In 2013, Margot Robbie is the rising actress in Hollywood. Australian by birth, she first made a name for herself by filming in the feature film vigilant in 2008, as well as in the soap opera Neighbors. It is by turning alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the film The wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese (2013) that the actress made a name for herself in Hollywood, in a performance hailed by critics and the public.
For his part, Tom Ackerley, British by state, started his career by doing extras in the first three films of the saga. Harry Potter. Subsequently, he returned behind the camera as a production assistant, then assistant director. It is while occupying this role that he meets Margot Robbie, on the set of the film French Suitein 2013. The two sympathize immediately, without realizing right away that they develop feelings for each other.
In an interview with vogue, Margot Robbie says they took a year to confess their love. “I was the ultimate bachelor, she explains, the very idea of being in a relationship made me want to vomit. And it fell on me, suddenly. We were friends for a very long time. I’ve always been in love with him, but I thought to myself, he’ll never love you. Don’t make it all weird, Margot. Then it happened, and I thought to myself, of course we’re together! It just makes sense.”
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A production company and a secret marriage
In 2014, the same year they started dating, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley launched their own production company: LuckyCheap Entertainment. Joined by Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr, they will produce films like I, Tonya (2017), in which Margot Robbie holds the title role, as well as Promising Young Woman (2020), starring Carey Mulligan. It is by this same production company that was released Barbie This year.
In an interview with the magazine MovieMaker in 2020, Tom Ackerley explains that the objective of this production company is to release female focused movies, and amplify new voices. “If we can be a company that brings together emerging talent, and provide them with that platform to make bigger movies, that would be ideal.”
In December 2016, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley married in secret, in a private ceremony in Bryon Bay, Australia, after several months of possible engagement rumors. At the film premiere Tarzan (2016), the 33-year-old was seen wearing a ring on her left hand, arousing suspicion. She will confirm the news on her Instagram account a few weeks later.
A couple that works just as well at work as it does in life
The saying goes thatcombine private and professional life does not work. Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley dismantle this cliché which still has the hard skin. Instead of going on honeymoon, the couple immediately got down to producing I, Tonyain 2017. “We made this film instead of our honeymoon, explained Margot Robbie in an interview with the media Extra. There were times when we were sitting in a parked car in Atlanta in the freezing cold, thinking, ‘We should be on a beach right now. We should be on our honeymoon. What are we doing?” she laughs.
Despite being nominated for numerous awards, the Australian actress is still plagued by doubts from time to time, and turns to her husband to regain her confidence. “I’m always nervous about starting work on a new project,” she told the DailyMirror in 2021. I have a total crisis of confidence and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not even good at acting, I can’t do this. (…) Every time I make a movie, I turn to my husband, and I’m like, ‘I don’t think I can do that’. Then he responds very calmly: ‘You do this every time. Everything will be alright'”.
While they appear very little together, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley walked the red carpet together for the world premiere of Barbiein Los Angeles, in July 2023.
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