But play with them at your peril. These dolls are not toys – they’re the cherished collection of a grown man with a tattooed chest and hairy arms.
Together they’re worth more than R1,5 million so you can’t really blame him for being a little precious about his plastic poppets.
“Some of them can speak,” Justuis Pieterse Manefeldt says as he shows us around the Barbie room of his flat in Table View, Cape Town.
The 36-year-old, who works in an interior décor shop, has a 10-year-old daughter, Gemma, but she doesn’t share his passion – probably because she isn’t allowed to play with her dad’s dolls.
Some of them are still in their boxes and that’s where they’ll stay. It’s a collector’s thing, he explains – you don’t take them out of their boxes and they have to be dressed in their original outfits.
Gemma isn’t too fussed that the room is pretty much out of bounds, Justuis says. She’s moved on and is making slime she sells to other kids.
The little girl and her mom, Justuis’ ex-fiancée Monique Kennon, live in the flat above the one he shares with his husband, Ewan (36), a graphic designer.
“We all get along really well for Gemma’s sake,” Justuis says.
This story is from the 10 December 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.
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This story is from the 10 December 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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