No, Margot Robbie hasn’t ‘let herself go’. She’s pregnant

“Barbie is not Barbie-ing any more.”

“It’s like watching your favourite pub burn down.”

“She used to be hot.”

There’s nothing quite like reading a series of vile remarks about a pregnant person – in this case, Australian actor Margot Robbie – to boil the blood of fellow women, including me and former Australian tennis player, author and speaker Jelena Dokic.

Margot Robbie with husband Tom Ackerley, holidaying on Italy’s Palmarola Island.Credit: CIAOPIX / COBRA TEAM / BACKGRID

“This amazing woman, Margot Robbie of course, is right now being body-shamed and heavily trolled for her appearance while pregnant,” Dokic wrote on Instagram. “If this incredible woman, who is so talented and successful … is getting scrutinised and body-shamed especially while pregnant then nobody has a chance and is exempt from trolling and judgment.”

And she’s right. In 2024, everyone should know and do better.

Unfortunately, the reality is that very few women have a chance to escape the unrealistic expectations many people – especially those commenting from behind a screen – seem to hold around how pregnant people should look and behave.

“Research shows that digital misogyny is on the rise and has become more extreme in the past decade,” says Dr Nicole Highet, founder and executive director of the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE). This, she says is fuelled by two factors in particular: low self-esteem (of the commenter) and anonymity.

In addition, Highet believes that the image-heavy age of social media is having an effect. “The focus on appearance is stronger than ever. Images are often highly edited and filtered, and it appears that body shaming is becoming more prevalent as people share unfiltered photos,” she says.

Though while prevalent online, unhelpful comments about pregnant bodies can also – in my experience – happen in person.

“Are you sure you’re not having multiples?” I was asked while pregnant with my eldest, as an indirect (yet very obvious) judgment of the size of my bump.

“You didn’t get the pregnancy glow,” a friend was told by a family member, due to a skin condition that developed on her face while pregnant.

“You must be finding shifting the baby weight difficult,” another friend’s father-in-law said when she was just three months postpartum.

While Robbie is hopefully not reading the comments of online trolls, all these types of remarks, which draw focus to a woman’s changing body, can be detrimental to their wellbeing and mental health, says Helen Bird, education services manager at the Butterfly Foundation.

“During pregnancy and postpartum, the body is undergoing huge transformations combined with emotional and hormonal adjustments, which makes it a high-risk time for body dissatisfaction,” she says. “It’s a time when words and comments about how someone looks can have a real impact.”

And it doesn’t help that the list of appearance-related problems pregnant people need to worry about continues to grow.

On TikTok, “pregnancy nose” is a trend, with more than 43 million posts in which users share tips and advice on how to prevent the natural – and temporary – swelling and shape change that can happen to a woman’s nose during pregnancy.

While on the one hand, this can be seen as a fun way for women to make light of a change that many people experience, on the other it can frame the change as ugly, embarrassing and, as the “how to avoid pregnancy nose” hashtag says, something to try to prevent.

So, in a society where growing a human isn’t viewed as nearly difficult enough, how can pregnant women cope with trends and comments that seemingly want to make it harder?

Robbie attends the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in July (right) and a screening of My Old Ass last month.Credit: Getty Images

For online content, Bird says that being aware of any triggers and diversifying your feed can help. “Avoid spending time on media that impacts how you feel about your body image and be mindful of who you are following,” she says.

Instead, she suggests exposing yourself to more realistic portrayals of pregnancy and parenting life, and only paying attention to accounts that highlight and embrace the changes and functions of pregnant and post-baby bodies.

When it comes to direct or indirect judgmental comments from friends, family or co-workers, Highet says to call it out.

“Some people are just naive and don’t think about what they may say or how it may affect others,” she says. “And this won’t change unless we speak up at the time to change the expectations and say this can be hurtful, and it’s not OK.”

For support with eating disorders or body image concerns call the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or visit butterfly.org.au.

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