‘Reborn’ dolls sell for up to £20,000 and are popular with celebrities including Britney Spears and Katie Price, not to mention countless everyday women. We take a closer look
Britney Spears recently sparked speculation that she had news to share when her bodyguard was pictured carrying a bundle of swaddling blankets with a tiny foot peeping out underneath. The pop star had arrived in Mexico for her £50,000-a-week five star getaway when the bizarre scene emerged.
“All you could see was the baby’s foot but at one point they were loading up bags into a limo and you could see the back of its head,” said an onlooker. “Everyone was staring at the kid in the blanket and thinking, has she had another baby? It was only when they got really close that you could see the little dangling leg was made of plastic. It’s one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen.”
Britney, who is mum to two teenage boys, was in fact carrying a life sized, plastic baby. Known as ‘reborn’ dolls, the ultra-realistic figures are popular with Katie Price, who has posted several social media snaps cuddling her ‘babies’. Sylvia Heszterterenyiova, meanwhile, describes herself as a ‘mum to 250 babies’ – a massive and rapidly expanding collection of reborn dolls.
“When my daughters Veronika and Sofia were little, I relished every moment changing their nappies, dressing them in cute outfits and rocking them to sleep,” she said. “When they grew up, I missed doing all those things. But when I turned 40, my children had the perfect solution.
“On my birthday, I heard the doorbell ring. I rushed to answer the door. There was no one there. Just a basket sitting on the doorstep.
“I crouched down, pulled the blanket back and gasped. The cutest face looked back at me. And there was a card that read: ‘I’m Isabella, will you take care of me?’
“My daughters beamed as I scooped up the baby. ‘Happy birthday!’ they cheered. ‘She’s gorgeous’, I beamed. The baby girl had tiny curled up fingers, rosebud lips and plump cheeks. But she wasn’t a real baby. She was a reborn doll made of vinyl.
Sabrina McKenna, from Omagh in Northern Ireland, turned to reborn dolls after the devastating loss of a child at 32 weeks back in 2011. “It was in 2014 that I discovered reborn babies on Facebook,” the 42-year-old told OK!. “I looked them up and couldn’t believe how lifelike they looked. In the depths of my grief, I wanted to try anything, and I bought my first reborn baby for £110 from a lady in Belfast.
“When she handed me my reborn baby in a blanket and I felt the weight of her, finally my empty arms had something to hold. I couldn’t believe how lifelike she was and I fell in love. She gave me light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”
The grieving mum has since spent thousands on more dolls but says her passion comes at a price. “I get trolled mercilessly and in the most disgusting way,” she said. “The latest one was someone posting a skeleton to me for Halloween, saying it was Jamie coming back to me, as it’s well-known why I have my reborn. It’s horrendous.”
Sylvia, 50, would turn reborn dolls into a business. “I went on a course and created my first handmade doll, Sally,” she said. “Holding the finished product, I knew I wanted to make reborns for a living. I started my own company called Fairies Reborn Magic Nursery. Now I could choose exactly how I wanted my babies to look.
“My daughters helped me change, dress and bathe the dolls. I liked to treat them just like real babies.
“We can’t have them being stuck inside all day,’ I said. I loaded the car with buggies, baby carriers and a few toys before strapping a couple of reborns in. Then we were off.
“My daughters and I took different reborns out each time, giving them a taste of the real world. We went to the beach, camping, to the cinema, horse-riding, roller skating, to restaurants, sightseeing – you name it they did it!
“One day, we were doing our weekly food shop when a woman walked past our trolley and smiled. ‘Ooh look at your little one’, she said. ‘Isn’t she lovely’.
“She reached out to touch my reborn and her jaw dropped. ‘I thought it was a real baby!’ she gasped. ‘It’s a reborn doll’, I said. ‘Wow’, she said. ‘Can I hold her?’ ‘Of course’, I said. “Just watching how much joy the reborns brought others warmed my heart. In time, I began making them each a baby book.
“I bought a stack of photo albums and glued in pictures of their adventures. I stuck letters on the front covers to spell out their names and even went online to search for baby scans, which I printed off and added alongside the photos.
“At home, I enjoyed seeing cute faces gazing at me from every room. When I was feeling organised, I kept them all together in the nursery along with a wardrobe full of all their outfits. They had more clothes and accessories than me!
“One day, Sofia needed to create some artwork for her Visual Arts studies. ‘I want to make something new and different’, she said. ‘I know just what we can do’, I said.
“I taught her how to make a reborn doll, but not just any ordinary reborn. We produced conjoined twins and named them Kendall and Kylie. ‘They’re amazing!’ Sofia said.
“They might have been slightly unusual looking, but we loved them just the same. Now, I have a whopping 250 reborns.
“And after counting all my dolls, not just reborns but porcelain, vintage and composition dolls, my collection amounts to 27,000 in total. They live all over my house – they’re everywhere. And anyone who visits always says the same thing – wow!
“They are always so surprised at the sheer number of dolls and how different they all are, from cute to spooky, I even have Avatar dolls. I let people hold my reborn babies and they love it.”
Sylvia, from Sydney in Australia, said her business was a popular one. “I’m getting so many orders from people wanting reborns as therapy dolls. There are some of my friends who don’t understand my passion for reborns, but I love them so much.
“They can give so much happiness. They even help Alzheimers patients retain and get back some of their memories.
“I’m so lucky to have reborns as my job and my hobby. I tell my friends I am always reborn pregnant – meaning I’m constantly working on a new baby, either for a client or for myself.
“My daughters are all grown up now and don’t live with me anymore. They will always come first. But I have a special bond for my reborn babies. I wouldn’t change my big happy family for the world.”
Source: Mirror
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