Wuthering Heights co-stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are sparking major conversation with their steamy new photoshoot promoting their latest film, and not for good reasons.
Fans quickly questioned everything from “straight-up misogyny” to Elordi’s perceived “disassociating” behavior, while for some, the duo’s “wild” age gap became impossible to ignore.
Highlights
- Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s steamy photoshoot sparked intense debate, with fans calling out everything from “forced chemistry” to a noticeable age-gap dynamic.
- The new images arrived amid the two actors’ comments about becoming “obsessed” with each other during filming, reigniting “cheating” accusations given Robbie’s marital status.
- Viewers also accused the duo of presenting “staged” and “PR-driven” romance optics, unexpectedly drawing comparisons to stars such as Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.
The intimate images come shortly after the 35-year-old actress revealed that the pair developed a “mutual obsession” during filming, leading to a wave of “cheating” accusations directed at Robbie.
“Their age difference is SO noticeable. She looks like she would be his cool older sister or something… The visual maturity mismatch directly makes the viewer think there would be a mental maturity mismatch too,” wrote one social media user.
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s intimate photoshoot promoting their upcoming film was ripped apart online, with netizens questioning Elordi’s body language
Image credits: Charley Gallay/Getty Images
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi recently teamed up for a steamy campaign as cover stars of the February 2026 issue of Vogue Australia.
The photoshoot and accompanying interview were conducted to promote their upcoming film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s beloved 1847 gothic novel Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell.
In the film, Robbie portrays Catherine Earnshaw, while Elordi takes on the role of Heathcliff.
Image credits: Vogue Australia
The movie is scheduled for a theatrical release on February 13, 2026, following its world premiere in Los Angeles on January 28, 2026.
During the film’s promotional press tour last week, Robbie revealed in an interview with Fandango that she became so “codependent” during filming that she felt “unmoored” whenever Elordi wasn’t nearby.
“I’m so codependent with people I work with, and I love everyone so much,” she said. “I’m always that person who’s devastated when a job’s over and never wants it to end. I think I developed that quite quickly with Jacob, too.”
“I don't know guys... Is chemistry in the room with us?” questioned one viewer, while another added, “I wonder what her husband is feeling like right now…”
Image credits: Vogue Australia
She added, “I was really unnerved and unmoored [when he wasn’t around], I felt quite lost, like a kid without their blanket or something.”
As these remarks stirred the internet, with many viewers questioning Margot and Jacob’s dynamic and echoing sentiments like, “How is this not cheating,” the stars’ latest photoshoot, themed around a “summer of love,” dropped last week on January 20.
The main cover story was titled, “This Is a Summer of Love”: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi on ‘Wuthering Heights’ and Taking Queensland to Hollywood.
Image credits: Vogue Australia
In one of the images, the two actors were locked in a close embrace, with Robbie sitting with both her legs wrapped around Elordi’s waist, as golden sunlight illuminated the space between them.
Other images featured the pair reclining together on a couch, staring directly into the camera, with the Barbie star wearing a black Chanel bralette paired with a sheer, patterned midi skirt.
Elordi, dressed in a cream-colored Bottega Veneta jacket layered over a white tank top and matching trousers, has one arm draped around his co-star, his fingers lightly grazing her waist.
Image credits: Vogue Australia
The images quickly became a hot topic online, with fans largely unimpressed and calling out the duo’s perceived “lack of chemistry.”
One critic wrote, “I think MR just oozes confidence while JE still looks so… lost and unsure? It looks like she is leading in each photo and he can’t keep up.”
Another user added, “Yeah he looks like he’s disassociating in all of these photos. She is SERVING but she’s doing all do the heavy lifting.”
“I don’t see obsession… No emotion. No vitality. Trying to compensate by showing more skin. Laaaaaame,” commented a third.
“He doesn't look young and she doesn't look old, but he looks inexperienced and she looks confident. To me, it looks like a photoshoot where she's the star and he's a prop.”
Some critics argued that Margot and the Euphoria star were attempting to imitate Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s highly publicized promotional strategy used to market A Star Is Born.
Wuthering Heights marks the first time Robbie and Elordi have shared the screen in a film, despite a seven-year age gap between the two stars
Image credits: Vogue Australia
“Remember when Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga made a ‘Star is Born’ and they created hype and publicity by hinting that there was a relationship between them. I think it works well and I think it makes people watch the movie and I think [Margot and Jacob] are doing this… I think she’s just playing a part,” one user expressed.
Another agreed, writing, “They are pulling a Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper PR!”
“At first this pairing screamed ‘infidelity’ but looking at these pics now I’m like ‘ehhhhhh.’ Ain’t nothing going on with these two.”
During the pair’s Fandango interview, Elordi also shared his thoughts on working closely with Robbie during the filming process.
He told the host, “There’d be a moment where we’d be running hand-in-hand through the moors, maybe not even in the scene, just setting it up, where I’d look across at her, and she’d be looking at me, and you really realized you are looking at Catherine and she was looking at Heathcliff.”
The images were themed around a “summer of love,” featuring the 35-year-old actress in sheer pieces and bralettes as she posed intimately alongside Jacob
Image credits: Vogue Australia
“And in that moment, we really were a part of their love, for real,” added the Frankenstein star.
The comments fueled further speculation online, with remarks such as, “Isn’t she married,” “I can feel [Margot’s] husband’s pain,” and “She needs to check in with her husband.”
The Oscar nominee has been married to film producer Tom Ackerley since 2016, and the two welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in 2024.
As for the upcoming film, the new adaptation has faced accusations of “whitewashing,” age-inappropriate casting, and a hyper-s*xualized tone that critics argue betrays the source material.
The casting of white actor Jacob sparked significant backlash, as Brontë’s novel describes Heathcliff as “dark-skinned” and a “Lascar,” implying he is of non-European descent.
When the film’s teaser was released in September last year, it was widely slammed on social media as “Fifty Shades of Heathcliff” or “soft p*rn” due to its focus on erotic imagery rather than the novel’s core themes of generational trauma and class struggle.
Image credits: Vogue Australia
Even the casting of Margot as Catherine Earnshaw was heavily criticized, as the actress is roughly twice the age of the teenage protagonist in the novel.
However, Victorian literature expert Monica Cohen previously defended the casting choice in an interview with Bored Panda.
According to her, “Today’s Margot Robbie probably looks a lot closer to a Victorian eighteen-year-old than to a Victorian thirty-five-year-old!”
“The overall staged vibe leaves you with the impression there’s something slightly off between these two…” wrote one social media user
