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After 65 years in Barbie’s orbit, Ken is lastly moving into the highlight — and followers are simply now studying his full authorities identify.
As Mattel’s iconic Ken doll turns 65 this March, the model is celebrating the milestone by pulling again the curtain on the character’s historical past, together with a element which will shock even longtime Barbie followers: Ken’s full, official identify is Kenneth Sean Carson.
Sure, actually.
The reveal comes as Ken enters what Mattel is looking a brand-new period. In an Instagram put up shared on Monday, January 26, the corporate teased that after greater than six many years as Barbie’s on-again, off-again associate, Ken is able to department out. Because the put up put it, he “must see what else is on the market.”
From being Barbie’s authentic dream man to being delivered to life by Ryan Gosling in 2023’s Barbie, Ken has worn many hats — actually and figuratively — through the years. However his roots go all the best way again to Mattel’s founding household. In line with Time, Ken was named after Kenneth Handler, the son of Mattel co-founders Ruth Handler and Elliot Handler. Barbie, in fact, was impressed by Ruth’s daughter, Barbara.
Ken first hit retailer cabinets in March 1961, two years after Barbie made her debut. On the time, Mattel positioned him as the right teenage boyfriend. A 1961 advert for the doll declared, “It began on the dance. Barbie, the well-known teenage style mannequin doll by Mattel, felt that this was to be a particular night time. After which it occurred. She met Ken, and someway she knew that she and Ken can be going collectively.”
The voiceover continued, “So now, Mattel brings you Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend, with an entire wardrobe of completely tailor-made garments of unmatched high quality. Now, Ken and Barbie meet for lunch at college, go to fraternity events and simply calm down collectively.” The advert famously featured Ken in swim trunks, casually draped with a towel — very Malibu-coded.
Curiously, the actual Kenneth Handler didn’t precisely see himself mirrored within the doll. In a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Occasions, he identified the distinction. “Ken doll is Malibu. He goes to the seaside and surfs. He’s all these good American issues,” he stated. Kenneth, who later labored as an actual property investor in New York Metropolis, described his personal teenage years very in another way. “I performed the piano and went to motion pictures with subtitles,” he stated, including, “I used to be a nerd — an actual nerd. All the women thought I used to be a jerk.”
Over the many years, Barbie and Ken’s fictional relationship has had loads of twists. After 43 years collectively, the couple famously broke up in 2004, with Barbie briefly linked to Blaine, an Australian surfer doll. The 2 later rekindled their romance in 2011 whereas filming Toy Story 3.
Now, Ken seems to be stepping out on his personal as soon as once more. In a latest standing replace, Mattel wrote, “After 65 years, Ken’s able to discover a brand new period by attempting 65 new issues. The place ought to he start?”
In an emotional video shared by the model, Ken is seen saying goodbye to the ocean. “Don’t be salty. It’s not eternally. We’ll keep in contact. Ship a wave,” he says, earlier than encouraging himself, “Don’t look again,” as he turns away.
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