Vanity Fair has found itself in some hot water after an old profile on Margot Robbie resurfaced which was, well, less than flattering in its description of Aussies — and also super creepy toward Robbie. It was dragged back then, and now it’s being dragged again. Rightfully so.
The profile in question was written by Rich Cohen, who is currently contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, and resurfaced amidst all the Barbie hype.
It opens with a paragraph that has a, uh, very interesting depiction of what Australia is like.
“Australia is America 50 years ago, sunny and slow, a throwback, which is why you go there for throwback people,” Cohen wrote.
“They still live and die with the plot turns of soap operas in Melbourne and Perth, still dwell in a single mass market in Adelaide and Sydney.”
Trust me, no one is coming to Australia for the “throwback people”.
Cohen also discussed having kangaroos in backyards, and wrote that the Gold Coast, where Robbie is from, was “isolated”, “the sleepiest part of a sleepy city at the bottom of the world”. Tell me you’ve never been to the Gold Coast without telling me you’ve never been to the Gold Coast.
But honestly, that’s not at all the worst part of the profile — it’s the way Cohen (who was around 50 at the time) discussed Margot Robbie’s beauty and sex appeal that really set people off.
“She is 26 and beautiful, not in that otherworldly, catwalk way but in a minor knock-around key, a blue mood, a slow dance,” he wrote.
Already, a thousand red flags.
“She is blonde but dark at the roots,” the article continued.
“She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character.”
Not even one paragraph in and we’re already discussing Margot Robbie naked.
Things only got weirder towards the end of the article, when Cohen asked Robbie about filming sex scenes, which she said were very awkward.
“We sat for a moment in silence,” he wrote.
“She was thinking of something; I was thinking of something else.”
Thinking of WHAT, mate? What an icky way to end a profile.
Unsurprisingly, people were less than impressed with the article — both when it came out in 2016, and now that it’s resurfaced.
Some people even called the profile “deranged” and “unhinged”.
Yes! This article was a precursor to the “Margot Robbie is mid” misogyny on Twitter. What is it with men always needing to add a back-hand to their compliments of women’s beauty?
Check out these oldies but goodies, too:
Margot Robbie herself commented on the Vanity Fair profile at the time and told The Project that she thought the interview was “really weird”.
“I remember thinking that was a really odd interview, I don’t know how that’s going to come out,” she said.
“And then when I read it I was like, ‘Yeah, the tone of this is really weird’. Like, I don’t really know what he’s trying to get at.”
While Robbie never made a complaint about the profile herself, she said she was glad to see her fans dunk on it.
“I was like, ‘Don’t mess with the Aussies!’” she said.
“Look what happens when you mess with Australia!”
Pop off queen. We’ve got your back.
Image: Getty Images / Samir Hussein/WireImage
