Margot Robbie Spends Thousands on Security After 'Suicide Squad' & Wishes She'd Been Warned
Margot Robbie may seem like she has the perfect life, but joining the DC world as Harley Quinn didn't just bring her more fame, it also led to stalkers and death threats. So even when she makes more money, a lot of it has to go to a security detail to protect her from the crazies.
Is that really a fair trade-off?
Robbie told The Hollywood Reporter she'd have less resentment for the position she's currently in if she'd known ahead of time what she was getting into. Obviously she knew about the added attention, but not the thousands she'd have to pay on background checks to see if this particular stalker has a record of violence or not.
She's not the only one in this boat -- Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence probably could've told her about it from their respective blockbuster franchises -- but Robbie told THR she didn't realize that, after joining the comic world in "Suicide Squad," she'd have to keep being in major movies to make major money to pay for major security. That wasn't quite her plan before now.
Here's that section of her lengthy The Hollywood Reporter profile:
The celebrity status that has come with joining the DC universe, however, is something Robbie is still figuring out. She's given a lot of thought to the pitfalls of fame in the past few years and wonders aloud whether perhaps someone at the talent agencies or elsewhere in the process should tell an actor before he or she signs on to a project like Suicide Squad, "You're about to be in a comic book film; now here's the worst-case scenario of how big and scary it can get."
Robbie, who has had to contend with stalkers and death threats, is now forced to spend a great deal of time and resources on personal security. "There's just all this stuff you learn along the way, like, when you get those death threats, it's [smart] to have a security team do a background check on whoever sent them to see if there is any past history of violence because you'll need to know whether you need security to go to certain events," she explains. "And every time you do a background check, it's going to cost $2,000, so take that into consideration when you're getting yourself into this.
Robbie grows more impassioned as she continues. "And it's like, 'OK, that's a different kind of career.' Because then you need to always do a job that can financially support that lifestyle; you can't just do indie films for the rest of your life because that film back there changed everything and now you have to be able to afford security." She pauses to gather her thoughts, and then she adds, "I just wish someone had explained a lot of those things to me early on. I wouldn't have resented the position I found myself in because I would've known what I was getting myself into."
It's hard to muster a lot of sympathy for celebrities, but it is a big deal to fear for your life the way many stars do once they reach a certain level of fame. Most fans are harmless but all it takes is one crazy person to make your life hell.
And then it's a vicious cycle -- in order to pay for bodyguards or security, you have to keep being in major high profile films that will pay a lot, keeping you in the public eye. If you want to do a smaller film, you need to have a lot of money already in the bank to pay for all of the people who keep you protected and insulated. It doesn't sound like the greatest life, overall.
Margot Robbie is currently on the awards circuit for "I, Tonya," and she'll next be seen in "Mary, Queen of Scots," but she'll also return to the role of Harley Quinn in the "Suicide Squad" sequel and DC's other upcoming films.
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