Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Mattel
Topics: World News, LGBTQ
Anish Vij
Laverne Cox has made history as the first-ever transgender Barbie doll.
The Orange Is the New Black actor was thrilled to learn that she would be Mattel's first transgender rendition of the famous doll.
In a statement given to Page Six, she said: "I can't wait for fans to find my doll on shelves and have the opportunity to add a Barbie doll modelled after a transgender person to their collection."
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The 49-year-old also told PEOPLE that the whole experience was 'surreal' and believes the doll will show kids that 'there’s hope and possibility for them to be themselves'.
She said: "What excites me most about her being out in the world is that trans young people can see her and maybe get to purchase her and play with her, and know that there's a Barbie made by Mattel, for the first time, in the likeness of a trans person.
"I think in an environment where trans children have been used as a political football, when over 250 pieces of anti-trans legislation have been introduced in state legislatures all over the country in 2022 alone, and access to gender-affirming healthcare has been denied by policies signed into law in my home state of Alabama, in Arkansas and other states.
"That in this environment where trans kids are being attacked, that this can also be a celebration of transness, and also a space for them to dream, understand and be reminded that trans is beautiful.
"That there's hope and possibility for them to be themselves."
The LGBTQ+ advocate claims she was 'very involved' in the design process, saying: "I was like, 'Can we make her look more like me? And more African American?'
"And we had a conversation about highlights and lowlights because I'm blonde most of the time now, but I'm a Black girl, so I need a dark root.
"And we had a whole conversation about how they can't do that, but they could do dark low lights."
The Barbie's numerous outfits was definitely something that the actor wanted to promote.
Cox explained: "I wanted her to wear multiple outfits, but that wasn't cost effective. You want the doll to be affordable.
"So I was like, 'What if she had one outfit that could peel off and become multiple outfits?' So that's what we designed and came up with."
The actor also revealed that as a child, her mother forbid her from playing with Barbie dolls because she 'was assigned male at birth'.
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