All eyes in Hollywood are on Margot Robbie. Not only is the Oscar-nominated actress one of the movie industry's fastest-rising stars, she is also one of its most glamorous and a producer's dream.
Stepping on to the red carpet in Cannes last week to promote her latest film – Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood – she was the picture of cool elegance in sequined Chanel.
And her appearance just a few days earlier – executing a perfect dive into the Med while wearing a sculpted, one-shouldered white swimsuit – attracted more attention still.
What a difference a couple of years makes.
In what may come as rather a surprise, pictures have emerged that suggest Ms Robbie was not always quite so well-groomed.
On-screen glamour: Margot as Sharon Tate in her new film Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Just months before bagging her starring role in Tarantino's epic, in which she plays Sharon Tate, the most famous victim of the Charles Manson murders, the 28-year-old was still living in a cramped and scruffy house-share in South London where seven people were squeezed into four bedrooms.
The crowded home in Clapham, affectionately known as 'The Manor' by its residents, was a hotbed of partying and hard drinking – followed by small-hours excursions to dingy local nightclubs. It was here that Margot began her relationship with her husband, Surrey-born film-maker Tom Ackerley, and had what she describes as 'the best times'.
The lease on the property was originally signed in early 2014, shortly after the release of the film which would make her name – Martin Scorcese's The Wolf Of Wall Street, in which she played seductress Naomi Lapaglia opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
Australian-born Margot, in London for the UK premiere, used the trip as an opportunity to meet up with the British friends she had made on the set of wartime drama Suite Francaise.
Joker in the pack: Margot, who is pictured wearing the Oscars Bait T-shirt, with her friend Sophia Kerr having fun with housemates at The Manor four years before she was nominated
Party time: Margot enjoying another party with her then husband-to-be Tom pictured bottom left
World away: Margot is pictured with co-stars Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival
Cannes premiere: Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and director Quentin Tarantino with Margot Robbie on the red carpet in the South of France for their new movie
The actress is said to have formed tight bonds with the London-based film crew, and the old gang had reassembled in the room of a glamorous hotel which was paid for on Margot's behalf by Paramount.
The reunion sparked a seemingly outrageous idea – that the friends should all live together and recreate the fun they'd had on set.
At the time, former Neighbours star Margot was on the cusp of worldwide stardom but was still living out of suitcases as she travelled the world for filming, awards ceremonies and premieres. The prospect of a base was suddenly all-too seductive.
Three days later, the group signed a lease on the decidedly modest house, chosen to be affordable to even the lowest-paid crew member – even though Margot was, at the time, worth several million pounds.
One of the housemates was Suite Francaise's assistant director Tom, the son of an estate agent, and it was while living in close proximity that their relationship developed.
It was a raucous period by anyone's standards – certainly according to pictures posted on one of her former housemate's Instagram page.
In one from April 2014, captioned 'the house degenerates', a brunette Margot is almost unrecognisable as she poses on a roof with her new housemates.
One black-booted leg held aloft, her tongue stuck out like a defiant teenager, she wears a naughty grin as she sticks two fingers up at the camera with both hands.
Perhaps prophetically given her 2018 Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role in I, Tonya, her T-shirt bears the slogan 'Oscars bait'. She is joined by friend Sophia Kerr while a group of young men parade in various states of undress.
Another snap posted a month later reveals a huge pile of bin bags strewn outside the house, filled with empty beer cans and bottles. Within days, another post shows an ecstatic Margot sitting astride the shoulders of a friend.
One acquaintance, who attended one of the parties, remembers Margot's room as unkempt, with an unmade bed and clothes scattered on the floor.
Naughty schoolgirl: Margot said she was determined to try out all the different pubs in London
It is worlds away from her current 'house-share' – a pristine £2.1 million four-bedroom Los Angeles villa, which she has owned with Tom since 2017.
For all her fame, Margot has always enjoyed a laid-back – and, indeed, dishevelled – approach to life.
She grew up the third of four children on a fruit farm on Queensland's Gold Coast, raised by her strong-willed single mother, Sarie Kessler, whom she has described as 'amazing'.
Scottish-born Sarie instilled in her children the importance of hard work and, by the age of 16 Margot had three jobs – as a cleaner, a Subway sandwich maker and as a surf store sales assistant.
She left home to pursue her acting
