On this site, I once wrote about how my parents would rub an alcohol-soaked finger across my gums when I was a teething baby. I considered it an old-school method of dealing with a teething baby, and I still believe that method was probably quite common for parents in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Well, people acted like my parents were handing me a bottle full of liquor! Commenters were so outraged, I still remember that. Well, I thought about that today as I read this new Margot Robbie story. Apparently, when she was growing up in Australia in the 1990s, her mom used to give her Kahlua-and-milk as a bribe to finish her homework. OH MY GOD.
Margot Robbie admitted that her mother Sarie Kessler used to mix her a drink with Kahlua when it came time for her to do homework as a kid. Robbie, 35, laughed off the confession when she appeared on the Table Manners podcast on Wednesday, Feb. 11, as she promoted her new movie Wuthering Heights. During the podcast, the Australian actress discussed her family’s dinner habits growing up with the podcasts British hosts Jessie Ware and her mother Lennie.
“In our house, [dinner] would often be late, because things were often quite disorganized,” Robbie shared, after describing her preferred pre-dinner snacks, which included a cheese board and “a bowl of nuts and bolts” — cereal, nuts and dried noodles — that she would eat at five o’clock, or “fivezies,” as Robbie called it. “It’s also like a family thing — you have a rum and Coke [and] some nuts and bolts.”
When Ware, 41, and her mother Lennie asked Robbie how old she was when she began drinking rum and Coke, she added, “Honestly, my mum used to, in order to get us to sit — I don’t know if I should share this — she used to give us Kahlua and milk so that we would do our homework.”
“We’d be running around like maniacs and she’s like, ‘Sit at the bench and do your homework,’ ” she added as the podcast’s hosts laughed. “And I love a White Russian. That’s probably why.”
Robbie grew up as the third of four children in her household: she has one older sister, Anya, an older brother named Lachlan and younger brother named Cameron. (Both of Margot’s brothers work in Hollywood, while Anya works as an accountant.) The Robbie siblings grew up on a farm on Australia’s Gold Coast, and their father Doug left Sarie and their children when Margot was 5 years old.
“I was very much a bogan growing up, though I did not realize it at the time,” Margot said on the Table Manners podcast, using a self-deprecating Australian slang term for someone of a low social class as she described her family’s eating habits.
I don’t want to hear sh-t about using an alcohol-dipped finger on a teething baby ever again!! Not when Australian mothers think nothing of giving their children booze as a bribe to complete their homework or settle down! I wonder how common this is in Australia, honestly. Is it a “bogan” thing – like, does the Australian lower-class widely accept giving booze to children? I have so many questions.
Btw, the photos in this post are from this week’s Sydney premiere of “Wuthering Heights.” Margot and Jacob Elordi’s homecoming, since they’re both Australian. Margot’s dress is Ashi Studio.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Margot Robbie BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Margot Robbie BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA Actress Margot Robbie, actor Jacob Elordi and model Hailey Bieber attend the opening night celebration of “Wuthering Heights” at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Pictured: Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 12 FEBRUARY 2026 BYLINE MUST READ: Marc Skinner / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Millennial Eastern European here, so I can’t speak to Aussie habits. But when I was growing up, it was widely common for our grandmas to give alcohol-soaked kerchiefs to babies to help with teething – usually with wine. It was also considered ok to let the growing child “taste” stuff like wine and beer every once in a while, especially at bigger social gatherings. I’m not saying it was right, but it was widespread, so I’m guessing whoever gave you sh*t must pertain to the younger generation.
Yes I grew up with a French mother and it was not unusual for us to have a small glass of wine (as an older kid) ) with dinner when it was a special occasion. I doubt Margot’s mom was giving her more than a small splash of Kahlua and milk.
I understand that people will have very strong opinions about this but I’d like to remind folks that Americans traditionally have unhealthy relationships with alcohol often because it’s seen as *forbidden* to anyone under the legal drinking age. In many other societies it’s introduced to younger people in family settings, in small quantities and with adult supervision. Alcohol is more integrated into the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle and less intertwined with the partying/social aspect than it is in the USA.
Yeah. I never drank more than a sip but I was allowed to try a sip of beer and wine (I hated it) when I was a teenager. My parents figured they would let me try it so it wasn’t something unknown that I was eager to try.
I honestly think because my parents didn’t make a big deal about it was why I never drank in high school. I really didn’t have my first real drink till college. It just wasn’t a big deal so it wasn’t something I did in order to rebel.
I had brandy rubbed on my gums when I was teething so you won’t hear outrage from me on that front but giving kahlua and milk to finish homework or to just settle down to a child? Wow wow wow wow wow! I think she should have kept her mouth shut on this bit of information!!
Margot needs to update her media training. While these types of anecdotes are meant to be amusing yet harmless fodder, they usually end up making the person look silly and tone deaf.
It’s really not that bad, jeez.
American and I was offered wine at dinner starting in high school, younger for religious observances. And when I got to college I had zero interest in binge drinking. Maybe no causal correlation? Maybe there is.
My grandfather was an MD. He used to give my older sisters 1/2 shot of whiskey at bedtime… (this would have been mid-60s in NYC)
American here. My mom tried to induce labor by getting drunk and gave me massive glasses of wine as a teen. But, she’s also an extreme alcoholic and she’s now the only one in the family who thinks that family lore is “funny.” We grow up, we recognize how effed up it was, and we do better. We don’t joke about it on TV and shrug it off. Margot needs to reflect.
I like Margot’s gown, and she wears it better than any of her other WH premier looks. Jacob Elordi stopped by on his way to an Eastern European wedding in the 90s.
And Margot had an unfortunate encounter with a shredder while getting dressed. I do like it, though.
My dad let me have grappa to dip my pan di fich (kinda like a sourdough buckwheat panettone local to our native region) during the holidays for almost as long as I can remember. The other traditional beverage for it is coffee/espresso, and he thought that was worse for a kid. 🤷🏻♀️ A little glug of Bailey’s in apres ski cocoa was also pretty normal, and I think I was allowed wine at dinner at around 12 or 13. As an older teen and as an adult, I’m a responsible drinker. I’m not saying it’s harmless, exactly, but “kids will turn into alcoholics if you let them drink too early!” is an extremely simplistic, slippery slope-type misunderstanding of the roots of addiction.
That said, yeah, you can’t share these things without expecting a torrent of judgment again you and/or your parents and family.
I agree that giving any alcohol to a child/teen won’t automatically turn them into an alcoholic (I do come from the swipe-alcohol-on-teething-gums generation as well), but I absolutely think context and the lessons one is teaching around alcohol is a big part of what kinds of drinking contribute to healthy habits and which increase risk of harmful relationships with alcohol.
I studied abroad in Italy, and the family I lived with, the families my classmates lived with, and even my relatives in Italy, frequently gave watered down wine at dinner to their children from around 12 on, but it was coupled with an understanding that this was part of meal culture and to be done responsibly – as in, teaching kids NOT to binge drink, drink just to party etc. It seemed to work – the Italian teens/early 20-somethings we hung out with had such healthier relationships to drinking than us Americans, most of whom were 20 so were drinking legally for the first time in Italy and were, as is the stereotype of American college students in general, going way overboard with our newfound “freedom” – just like freshman year all over again.
As others have noted, including you, I think some special occasion drinking, within a framework of family or cultural traditions (whether it’s religious, meal time, big life event, holidays, apres-ski, etc. – whatever it may be), and limited to that framework typically helps learn appropriate drinking habits, I think it’s fair to question the wisdom of giving kids alcohol to get them to sit down and be quiet, or do their homework.
That seems to be setting up a relationship with alcohol in which it is used as a coping mechanism, and is probably not going to lead to healthy relationships with alcohol in the future (of course, not always the case – for instance, to my knowledge, Margot Robbie is perfectly fine with alcohol, etc.).
But I do think being cognizant of what lessons adults are instilling (explicitly or implicitly) when they do let children drink is a huge factor in how that shapes those kids’ relationships with alcohol as they grow and become able to access alcohol themselves.
We also used to get Irish whiskey on our gums when we were teething … and for some reason, my dad also used to give us butter and sugar when we had sore throats.
But daily white Russians? That’s a bit much.
Er, did she say daily?
White Russians contain vodka in addition to the kahlua. Kahlua and milk is a sombrero – my dad’s go-to cocktail
I love kahlua and cream/milk. I am Portuguese and in my family I was allowed a sip or two of it at around 11/12. By high school, I was allowed a whole drink. But only holidays/birthdays, so max 4 times a year. Definitely not a homework bribe.
I have zero alcohol issues.
I’m American and my mom used to tell me the story of how she let me try a sip of beer as a toddler, and she looked away for a moment and I drank most of the bottle. Like as a funny anecdote. The 70s were wild.
I’m another (Gen X) child that parents used the whiskey on the gums for teething pain but I didn’t do that with my daughter. My dad, who I saw on weekends, was a full blown alcoholic and used to let me drink around age 14 but my mom never allowed it in our home. I’ve had issues with alcohol throughout my life and abstain mostly now that I’m middle aged.
I don’t think my parents did that, at least not that they have mentioned. My father would have a martini when he came home from work, and they sometimes drank red wine with dinner. But my mother grew up with parents who abused alcohol so she was quite careful about it. When we hit our teen years they would let us have a glass of wine with Thanksgiving or other special meals, maybe some spiked egg nog at Christmas. That sort of thing.
Giving a child alcohol as a bribe or reward on a regular basis sounds like….a lot. But she was a single parent with four kids. I assume she was very overwhelmed. And maybe it wasn’t unusual at that place and time.
Australian here.
No, we do not give kids alcohol, lol.
Full on bogan’s might buy beer for their teen if they’re having a party. Everyone else, hard no.
Australian here, having also grown up in a notoriously bogan community and being arond the same age as Margot – absolutely not. Not a common thing at all. Kids do/did get exposed to alcojol and drinking culture pretty early, and teenage binge drinking (especially in the 90s/00s) was definitely a big problem, I can’t say that parents commonly use/d alcohol as a bribe. More of a ‘look the other way if your 15yo is drinking cruisers at parties’ thing.
I’m Australian gen x, definitely not common, I rember I was about 10 i about a whole box of liquor chocolates, my mum caught me and said you do know you would be drunk know
I’m a millennial Aussie and my parents let me have Baileys and Milk at Christmas time as a treat, probably when I was 10 or 11…so it’s not THAT unusual, but it was not a regular thing.