The real Barbie is called Barbara Handler and is over 80 years old

It was 1959, Barbara Handler had just turned eighteen and she didn’t have the faintest idea that her name would remain forever linked to the most pop pop icon on the planet. The parents of Barbara “Barbie” Joyce Handler they were Ruth and Elliott Handlerco-founders of Mattel and inventors of the most famous doll in history, now brilliantly brought to the big screen by Margot Robbie.

Ruth Handler had the intuition to createand a different doll than usual, a doll that could be “anything” and that would serve the girls to project their dreams, different for each of them. He made it, going against the advice of all those who considered a doll with the features of an adult woman inappropriate, and that idea went down in history, where it is still today. Like any mother, Ruth decided to pay homage to her daughter with her creation, which had actually been an integral part of the creative process: it was watching her play with paper dolls that inspired her to create the new revolutionary toy for girls. Thus, that new tall, slender and fashionable doll could only be named like her: Barbie. Similarly, years later, Ruth named the male version of her Barbie after her son Kenneth (“Ken”)but that’s another story.

Barbara Handler has not always lived happily with the success of her toy alter ego. People asked her for autographs without her understanding why, and she was often disappointed to discover that her appearance was completely different from that of the blonde pop icon. However, over the years, Barbara has learned to make peace with the Barbie world, becoming a bit of his mother’s heir in representing the image of the Mattel doll. Also on the occasion of the release of Greta Gerwig’s film, Barbara said she was very happy with the film adaptation of her mother’s creation, assuring that she never imagined her doll would one day make it all the way to Hollywood. But Barbie, you know, can be anything, even the actress of a highly anticipated blockbuster.

Blockbuster which, moreover, does not lack pay homage to the person who inspired the creation of the doll: Barbara Handler herself appears in a brief cameo in the film of the summer. We can already find her in the trailer, in the role of a smiling old lady sitting on a bench next to Margot Robbie, while she is significantly told that «humans sooner or later leave. Ideas stay forever.”