Margot Robbie was 'dying' after 'Barbie' photos leaked

Margot Robbie says leaked ‘Barbie’ photos were ‘the most humiliating moment of my life’

A blond woman in a blue outfit seated in a pink convertible car

Sept. 21, 2022 11:10 AM PT

Contrary to popular belief, the Barbie life isn’t always fantastic, at least according to Margot Robbie.

In a recent interview on “The Tonight Show,” the Australian actor, who stars as the iconic doll in Greta Gerwig‘s forthcoming film, “Barbie,” told Jimmy Fallon she was embarrassed by the set photos that leaked of her and her co-star Ryan Gosling in their gaudy getups in June.

“I can’t tell you how mortified we were, by the way,” Robbie said. “We look like we’re like laughing and having fun, but we’re dying on the inside. Dying. I was like, this is the most humiliating moment of my life.”

In the photos, the two are wearing matching neon-bright workout outfits while roller skating down the Venice Beach bike path. The shots quickly became the object of internet fascination.

Twitter user @taeerage wrote, “seeing what ryan gosling and margot robbie wear on the set of barbie is more exciting than the met gala.”

“The barbie movie isn’t actually a real movie, it’s really a science experiment to see if images of Margot Robbie and Ryan gosling wearing hot pink outfits and cowboy hats could induce serotonin in terminally online people and it’s working,” tweeted @ninaoyama.

@verymimi tweeted, “i saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by barbie set pics.”

The “I, Tonya” star said she was surprised by the attention the photos of the duo conjured up.

“I knew once you were doing exteriors, you’re gonna get papped. There’s probably going to be a little crowd of people who are going to take notice because, you know, we stand out a little bit in those outfits,” she said. “So I knew there was going to be a little bit of attention, and probably some photos would get out there, but not like it did. It was like mad. It was like hundreds of people watching all time.”

“Barbie” is set to hit theaters on July 21. Details of the script, which Gerwig wrote with her fellow filmmaker and life partner Noah Baumbach, have been kept mostly under wraps.

The script apparently was so good that actor Simu Liu couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of the film.

“[A junior agent] was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the ‘Barbie’ script. I really think you should do it,’” the “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star told GQ UK in May.

Along with Robbie, Gosling and Liu, the cast includes Ritu Arya (“The Umbrella Academy”), Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”), Will Ferrell (“Anchorman”), Nicola Coughlan (“Bridgerton”), America Ferrera (“Superstore”), Michael Cera (“Arrested Development”), Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”), Alexandra Shipp (“X-Men: Apocalypse”) and Rhea Perlman (“Cheers”), according to IMDb.

Issa Rae (“Insecure”) and Hari Nef (“Transparent”) also are in the cast, with New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan hearing gossip at the Cannes Film Festival in May that the two are playing different versions of Barbie, while Liu and Ncuti Gatwa (also of “Sex Education”) play alternate Kens.

Times entertainment reporter Christie D’Zurilla contributed to this report.