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If youve just gotten back from seeingGreta GerwigsBarbie-approvedBarbie, chances are you might have some questions.
For example, can you buy the I Am Kenough hoodie?
Are you the only one who thought Allan was iconic?
And hey, who was that old woman slash ghost who created Barbie?
Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.
Born Ruth Mosko in 1916, she married her high-school boyfriend, Elliot Handler, in 1938.
In 1945, the couple co-founded a toy company with industrial designer Harold Mattson.
How does the movie monologue compare with Handlers real life?
Find the (t)ruth below.
Why did Ruth Handler create Barbie?
Growing up, her daughter, Barbara, played with paper dolls with her friends.
Ruth was fascinated by the way that they imagined the dolls as their older selves.
So I gave it beautiful breasts.
In a market of baby dolls, however, Mattel wasnt initially interested in making a grown-up alternative.
She returned home to finally create Barbie Teen-Age Fashion Model.
By the early 1960s, Barbie was reportedly responsible for most of Mattels sales profits.
Barbies resume (and closet) eventually expanded to encompass pretty much every career.
Did Ruth Handler actually get accused of tax fraud?
But if it makes her ghost feel any better, that means she has something in common withwith Shakira?
She ended up resigning as president in 1973.
Accordingto Biography.com, she and her husband both fully cut ties with the company they co-founded by 1975.
Ruth pleaded no contest, was fined $57,000, and received a community service sentence of 2,500 hours.
Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970 and had a mastectomy that same year.
Still, her breakup with Mattel didnt stop her from getting down to business elsewhere.
WhileBarbiesuggests that Ruth had a double mastectomy, only her left breast was actually removed.
How do we know?
Is Ruth Handler still alive?
She died at age 85 on April 27, 2002, at a hospital in Los Angeles.
Handlers husbandtold the Los AngelesTimesthat the cause was complications following a colon surgery she had undergone three months before.
That we Ken not confirm or deny.
