If you haven’t seen “Barbie” yet, it’s not a spoiler to share that the blockbuster film includes a few touching — even tear-jerking, for many — moments centered on mother-daughter relationships. It’s no surprise, then, that Margot Robbie, the film’s star in the titular role of Barbie, touched on her own relationship with her mother during the film’s extensive press tour.
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Robbie revealed that she used earnings from her work in movies to pay off her mom’s mortgage in 2014. According to Robbie, her mother, Sarie Kessler, lent her money from the mortgage to help Robbie out when she first started acting.
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Robbie’s big break came in 2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” for which she earned just $347,000 in her role as Naomi Lapaglia opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort. (DiCaprio was paid $10 million for his work in the film, but dissecting this pay disparity is fodder for an article other than this one).
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A year later, in 2014, Australian news site News.com.au reported that Robbie paid off the mortgage on Kessler’s $490,000 home in Southport, Australia, for her mother’s 60th birthday.
“She’d take money out of the house mortgage, lend me money, so I always knew, I was like, ‘I got to pay that back,'” Robbie told CBS Sunday Morning. “And then one day, when I made enough money, I just paid that whole mortgage off completely. I was like, ‘Mom, don’t even worry about that mortgage anymore. It doesn’t even exist anymore.’ Honestly, anyone in my position, you’d do that for your mum.”
Robbie is the youngest of four siblings her mom raised alone, and the pair remain very close — Kessler even joined Robbie on the red carpet at the premiere of the actor’s film “Babylon” late last year.
You can watch Robbie’s sweet interview about paying off her mom’s house below:
What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten for your mom?
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This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
