Australian actress Margot Robbie helped teach Will Smith how to swim after she discovered his secret aversion to water while they were working on new movie Focus. The Wolf Of Wall Street star admits she was shocked to find out Smith had been avoiding water-based activities all his life because he was never taught the basics as a child, so she and her mother set out to help him.

Robbie tells U.S. TV show The Talk, “I found out that… and this is surprising to me because I’m Australian, that he doesn’t know how to swim… I mean, in Australia, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know how to swim… You grow up in the water and you learn before you can walk…

“I was like, ‘This is crazy. You are missing out on so many water sports and diving…’ So my mum was in Argentina visiting (us during filming) and we were like, ‘Right, you are getting in the pool right now and we are going to teach you how to swim…’ It was my mum in there with us and he was hating it. He was like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’.”

However, Robbie later found out Smith had continued his lessons by recruiting a professional trainer, and he is now a regular in the pool.

She adds, “He’s gone off and learned from, like, an Olympic swimmer and now he’s a great swimmer.”