Despite the fact that they are smooth plastic all over, Barbie and Ken are nonetheless involved in a real-life sex scandal! Apparently there's a lot more going on in Barbie's dream house than any of us ever knew.
A new book reveals that the man behind Barbie's creation was a "seventies-style swinger" who lived a life filled with perversions. Jack Ryan, a high-profile designer at Mattel, lived a no-longer-secret life filled with hookers ranging from call girls to streetwalkers. All the juicy details are coming out in a new book, Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel, by veteran author Jerry Oppenheimer, whose scored major revelations in his previous books on Barbara Walters, Martha Stewart and others.
In the book Oppenheimer reveals more than just Ryan's high-perversion lifestyle. He also sheds light on Ken's sexual orientation confirming something we've all suspected for years - that good looking little plastic guy is gay! Here's how he knows: Barbie and Ken were named after the children of Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler. Ken was not fond of that "honor," according to Oppenheimer, who reveals that Ken eventually married, had three kids but was a closeted gay who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1990. He died in 1994.
Who knew the secret lives of dolls could be so scandalous?