Margot Robbie’s sweet private act for Neighbours finale

She may be an Oscar-nominated actress, but Margot Robbie proved she hasn’t forgotten her roots with this moving private gesture.

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 career as Ramsay Street’s Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011, appeared in the show’s finale, which aired last Thursday.

While the A-lister filmed her scenes for the final show in Los Angeles, she made a sweet gesture to her fellow castmates, sending 37 bottles of champagne to the Melbourne set, as revealed by Neighbours actress Christie Whelan on social media last week, The Sun reports.

Not only did Margot return to Neighbours for the final ep- she brought along 37 bottles of champagne so everyone could toast to the show and their hard work. From Hollywood back to Nunawading, just the classiest gal, who remembers how it all began for her. Legend.

— Christie Whelan (@Christie_Whelan) July 27, 2022

Robbie said that the final episode marks “the end of an era”.

Now Hollywood’s ­highest-paid actress, she said: “I owe so much to Neighbours.

“There are so many of us that owe [the show] 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.”

Thursday’s Neighbours finale saw Robbie 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.

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Margot Robbie sent the cast of Neighbours a sweet gift to mark the end of the show. Picture: Getty

Remembering her time on the soap, Robbie said it was only when she moved to London that she realised how widespread Neighbours’ popularity was.

“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.”

From fruit farm to Hollywood Hills

The actress, who grew up on a fruit farm on the 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 in 2013.

Soon after, she moved to South ­London where she shared a four-bedroom pad in Clapham with six other friends that they dubbed “The Manor”.

April Rose Pengilly with champagne sent to the set by Margot Robbie. Picture: Supplied

Margot Robbie (left) back in her Neighbours days in 2010. Picture: Supplied/Channel 10

Her housemates were friends she had met filming wartime flick Suite Francaise – including the assistant director and her now-husband Tom Ackerley.

Robbie went on to star in 2015’s Focus opposite Will Smith and played The Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn in 2016 hit ­Suicide Squad.

In 2016, she and Ackerley also married, and the following year they swapped their Clapham flat for a $3.6 million villa in ­Hollywood.

But she 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, the actress 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 DiCaprio as well as Brad Pitt.

Fans will have to wait almost a year to see Margot Robbie in Barbie. Picture: Warner Brothers

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.

Robbie 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 rethink it because Greta has done something ­special here.

“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.

‘Things have changed a lot’

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.

Robbie, 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.

Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie in Bombshell.

“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.”

The actress 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.

“So yes, lots of times. And to varying degrees of severity throughout my life.”

Speaking last week, Robbie said: “I think things have changed in ­Hollywood over the past few years.

“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.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission

Originally published as Margot Robbie’s sweet private act for Neighbours finale