Meet Margot Robbie's Mom: All About Sarie Kessler and Their Sweet Mother-Daughter Relationship

Margot Robbie’s lookalike mom Sarie Kessler is the star’s biggest fan

Margot Robbie and her mom Sarie Kessler may live on opposite sides of the world, but the pair couldn’t be closer.

Kessler welcomed the Barbie star on July 2, 1990, the third of four children with her ex Doug Robbie. A fruit farmer, he left the family when the future Academy Award nominee was 5 years old. Kessler raised Robbie and her siblings — one older sister, an older brother and a younger brother —  as a single mom on a farm on Australia’s Gold Coast.

“My siblings and I went boar-hunting and surfing, and I grew up learning more about agriculture and animal husbandry than you could imagine,” Robbie told U.K. outlet The Resident about her childhood. “It was not the kind of upbringing that you could ever have expected would lead anyone into acting.”

Related: Margot Robbie Makes 'Babylon' L.A. Premiere a Mother-Daughter Date Night — See the Sweet Photos

And yet, Robbie was always “a performer,” even as a “little child,” according to her mom. “I really didn’t see the writing on the wall, but I should have,” Kessler told Vogue Australia of Robbie’s acting potential. “I just thought you were a bit precocious.”

In the years since, Kessler has flown all around the world to show her support for her daughter, accompanying her to red carpet events and Hollywood parties — a series of “pinch-me moments,” as Robbie described them to Vogue Australia.

From raising four children on her own to sipping Champagne with her daughter at the Cannes Film Festival, here’s everything to know about Sarie Kessler and her relationship with her daughter, Margot Robbie.

Kessler raised Robbie and her siblings as a single mom

After Robbie’s dad left their family, Kessler raised her and her siblings on her own. Robbie, who is estranged from her father and prefers not to discuss him publicly, has referenced him on occasion over the years. “I'm not like him at all,” Robbie told Harper’s Bazaar in 2016, adding that she had “nothing” in common with him.

Her mother, on the other hand, has set a strong example that the actress does her best to emulate. “She’s an amazing woman,” she gushed to The Resident, adding that she and her siblings “didn’t make life easy for her.” She continued, “We were always fighting and my mum had to be a very strong woman to hold things together.”

She’s a physiotherapist

In addition to raising her children and tending to the family farm, Kessler is also a physiotherapist, meaning she works with patients to help them manage pain and mobility. Previously, while her children were growing up, she focused primarily on working with the elderly. These days, she works with children with disabilities.

Describing her mother and her work to Harper’s Bazaar, Robbie gushed that she has a “heart of gold.” She later described her mom as “the most moral and good person I know” to Vogue Australia.

Taking a page from her mom’s book, Robbie has repeatedly teamed up with the non-profit Youngcare, an Australian organization that builds Specialist Disability Accommodation, offers free support over the phone and funds grants for young Australians with disabilities.

"I've known and still know young people around my age who have high care needs, and my mum has worked with kids with disabilities throughout my life. So I've always been privy to that," she said in 2021, after receiving the RAD Impact Award and using it to partner with Youngcare again.

Robbie spent her first paycheck on paying back her mom

Growing up, Kessler kept the family on “tight budgets,” telling Vogue Australia, “we had to figure things out and work through the difficulties.” Robbie inherited her money-consciousness, keeping a careful log of everything she ever borrowed from her mom so that she could pay her back. When she landed her first acting paycheck, she immediately paid off her debts.

“I had everything I owed you written on a piece of paper and every time I got a paycheck I paid off my debt, but then I kept the piece of paper because it was so satisfying at the end to know I’d paid it all back,” she said.

A fair number of A-list acting gigs and coinciding checks later, she managed to do something she’d long dreamed of: For Kessler’s 60th birthday in 2014, Robbie paid off the remaining mortgage on her mom’s house in Southport, Australia.

In July 2023, Robbie spoke about paying off the mortgage during an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning. "I was like, 'Mom, don't even worry about that mortgage anymore. It doesn't even exist anymore,' " she recalled.

"Honestly," the Barbie actress added, "anyone in my position, you'd do that for your mom. Of course you would."

Robbie often takes her mom as her date to red carpet events

The lookalike pair have turned heads on a number of red carpets, from film festivals to awards shows. One of their first major public appearances together came in early 2018 at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. The following day, the mother-daughter duo stunned on the red carpet at the 90th annual Academy Awards, where Robbie was up for Best Actress for her turn in I, Tonya.

In addition to joining her for the Cannes International Film Festival in 2019, Kessler also showed support for her daughter at the premiere of her film Babylon in December 2022. For the occasion, the two wore coordinating all-black ensembles, which emphasized their similar features.

Robbie and Kessler were “freaking out” over getting to attend the Cannes Film Festival together

One of the most memorable events that the pair have attended together was Cannes, Robbie shared in their Vogue Australia interview. “That was such a pinch-me moment,” she said, noting that they were staying at Hotel du Cap — a celebrity-favorite hotel that she described as “fancy.”

During their stay at the five-star property, “it felt like every room we walked into had a bottle of Champagne handy” — something the two of them made sure didn’t go to waste. “Honestly, you and I would wait for everyone to leave the room then we’d turn to each other, squeal and say: ‘Let’s drink Champagne,’ ” Robbie recalled of the sweet mother-daughter trip.

She added that their giddiness began on the flight over, when they flew first class. “We were freaking out because they had caviar,” she recounted.

Robbie got married in her mom’s wedding dress

When The Wolf of Wall Street actress tied the knot with longtime love Tom Ackerley on Dec. 19, 2016, she turned to her mom for something old and something borrowed: her wedding dress.

Related: Margot Robbie Wore Her Mom's Wedding Dress for Secret Nuptials to Tom Ackerley

For the under-the-radar nuptials, which took place in Byron Bay, Australia, with the Suicide Squad star’s family in attendance, Robbie revamped her mom’s off-the-shoulder lace wedding dress from nearly 30 years prior, according to Australia’s Courier-Mail. To help achieve her dream look, she had a little help from Australian designer Casey Tanswell, who altered the dress slightly.

Kessler worried when Robbie first confessed she wanted to be an actor

After making a movie at the end of high school, Robbie was hooked on acting — so much so that she was determined to pursue it as a career, much to her mother’s initial shock.

“You loved it so much and you came home and said: ‘Mum, you’re not going to like this, but I’ve decided I’m going to be an actor,’ ” Kessler recalled, adding that her “jaw hit the floor” when she heard that. “You come from a family with a medical background and a family with a business background, and you told me you were going to be an actor. I was stunned,” she told Robbie in their joint Vogue Australia article.

Despite her hesitations, Kessler encouraged her daughter to pursue her dream. “I really admired the way you set about deciding how your future was going to unfold,” she told Robbie. Soon enough, at age 17, Robbie cold-called a casting agent in Melbourne and auditioned for Neighbours, an Australian soap opera that would become her jumping-off point.

“I was very concerned you were intending to take a pathway that, to me, didn’t have a really extensive future,” Kessler admitted. “And now you could say: ‘Mum, you needed more faith in what I can achieve.’ ”

Kessler is bemused by Robbie’s transition from “farm” girl to “fashion icon”

Growing up on a farm, Robbie spent her days tending to animals or climbing trees. There was no need for haute couture gowns — at the time, her uniform of choice was “board shorts and mismatched T-shirts,” Kessler told Vogue Australia in their joint 2019 interview, with the actress chiming in that farm boots were her go-to accessory.

“It is hilarious when I look back at pictures and honestly, Mum, I don’t know why you let me dress myself. I looked ridiculous,” Robbie said, to which Kessler clarified that any efforts to shape her daughter’s style would have been useless. “Probably because you would have had a tantrum if I hadn’t [let you dress yourself],” she said.

Remarking that she’s now a bonafide “fashion icon,” Kessler confessed to Robbie: “When I see you sitting next to Anna Wintour or being made the new fragrance ambassador for Chanel, I think: ‘Pinch me, this can’t be my daughter. The one who was in the farm boots and the apricot-coloured skirt,’ ” she said. Robbie admitted that is often “thinking the same thing."

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