Margot Robbie Was 'Horrified' She 'Didn't Know the Definition of Sexual Harassment' Before Bombshell

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie opened up about why she took the role in Bombshell, the 2019 drama about the women who worked together to expose Fox News CEO Roger Ailes for his ongoing sexual misconduct.

The Australian actress, 32, admitted she didn't know the definition of sexual harassment and took the role to help her better understand it.

"I realized that I — as a person with an established position in the industry, financially set up and self-sufficient — I didn't know the definition of sexual harassment, and that's shocking," she said during a BAFTA Life in Pictures talk celebrating her career, according to Variety.

Robbie also said it "horrified" her that she knew so little about the topic, and Bombshell taught her that sexual harassment and bad behaviors truly "flourishes in the grey area."

"Roger Ailes or Harvey Weinstein, they take advantage of the area," the Barbie actress added. "The situation isn't black and white."

Hilary B. Gayle/Lionsgate Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie in the film

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Robbie tends to gravitate to hard roles that challenge her.

In WSJ. Magazine's cover profile for the November Innovator's Issue, the Oscar-nominated actress opened up about her craft, specifically her preference for exhausting roles.

"I'm a masochist," she told the magazine. Adding that no matter how daunting or draining a role — Tonya Harding in 2017's I, Tonya would seem to certainly count — the actress "can always find a fifth gear."

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Robbie's profile, written by Lesley M.M. Blume, is one of eight covers representing this year's WSJ. Magazine award recipients. Robbie is the publication's Entertainment Innovator recipient for 2022. The Innovator Issue & Awards honor the year's groundbreaking visionaries and their cultural impact across a variety of entertainment arenas.

Among the topics discussed was Robbie teaming with Josey McNamara, Sophia Kerr and now-husband Tom Ackerley to form the LuckyChap Entertainment production company in 2014.

The first project for LuckyChap was the award-winning I, Tonya, which at first, the actress said, was not met with much enthusiasm within the industry, so LuckyChap quickly picked up the option.

"They [were] like, 'You can't make that.... You've got 200-something scenes, several locations, it's period,' " recalled Robbie. "We read it and were like, 'But it's just f—ing great; it's the best script ever, so who cares?' "

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Noting that only 1 percent of the projects now pitched to them are "f— yeses," Robbie enjoyed reminiscing about the company's humble, underdog beginnings.

"[We were] too young and dumb to know how scary [it would] be," she said. "Starting it all off on a kitchen bench in London, everyone was like: 'They're such idiots...it would be a miracle if they did anything.' "