Margot Robbie dragged for wearing dead woman’s hair bracelet, but the backstory is quite cool

Twitter is losing its mind after Margot Robbie sported a replica of Charlotte Brönte’s mourning bracelet, which just so happened to be bound with the hair of her dead sisters, Emily Brönte and Anne.

The lead-up to Wuthering Heights, an adaptation of Emily Brönte’s book of the same name, has been a mess! From the incredibly thirsty themes of the film to the whitewashing of Heathcliff, the film hasn’t even been released yet, and everyone is already fighting.

Set for release on February 13, the UK premiere of Wuthering Heights was in London on Thursday, and leading stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi were in attendance. She was her usual captivating self on the red carpet, slipping into a Dilara Findikoglu corset gown with accompanying Manolo Blahnik heels, faux blond braids, and an array of sparkly jewellery.

Amongst the jewellery was the replica of Charlotte’s mourning bracelet, and let’s just say it’s been quite controversial.

Credit: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Here’s the interesting story of the bracelet Margot Robbie wore

Mourning jewellery dates back as far as the 16th century, but it became especially popular in the Victorian era, where people would adorn memorial jewellery with the locks of their deceased loved ones.

Wuthering Heights author Emily Brönte died in December 1848, followed by her sister Anne just five months later in May 1849. The third Brönte sister, Charlotte, had the bracelet commissioned soon after, and it incorporated locks of Emily and Anne’s hair. She wore the bracelet, which included gold clasps set with garnets, until her own death in 1855. It has been owned by the Brontë Parsonage Museum since 1923.

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Unlike Kim Kardashian, who did wear a real historical artefact to the 2022 Met Gala, Margot Robbie’s bracelet was a replica designed by Wyedean Weaving, a fourth-generation manufacturer based in the Brontë’s hometown of Haworth.

Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said: “The [Brönte Parsonage Museum] holds the world’s largest collections of Brontë manuscripts, clothing and personal possessions and we take our responsibility as custodians extremely seriously.

Credit: andrewmukamal/Instagram

“This event has offered us an unprecedented opportunity to share an item from our collection and tell its story with a global and contemporary audience, and we are delighted that, thanks to director Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie and everyone involved with the film, Emily Brontë and her masterpiece continue to be part of popular culture almost 200 years after her death.”

The hair was constructed with a synthetic material, but hand-dyed to resemble the original item.

Despite being a replica, there’s been some backlash

Admittedly, some of the backlash was born of the belief that Margot Robbie was wearing the real mourning bracelet of Charlotte Brönte. But then, even after the mistake was cleared up, people still argued that it was disrespectful.

margot robbie wearing the brontë sisters hair as a bracelet for the premiere… very unclassy very nasty of her considering the movie is so unlike the book

— maria (@anyasroyco) February 5, 2026

“She wore a replica of an arguably sacred but undoubtedly sentimental piece of family jewellery to an event celebrating the b*stardisation of one of the greatest classics ever written. They’ve turned a legendary work of literature into soft-core p*rn,” one person wrote. “And she’s disrespecting the family – the family of incredible, groundbreaking, female authors – by wearing that. Even if it is a replica.”

Another said: “Margot Robbie wearing the brontë sisters’ hair as a bracelet for the premiere… very unclassy very nasty of her considering the movie is so unlike the book.”

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Featured image credit: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock