As a child, the actor and showrunner would play with Black dolls and imagine herself as an entrepreneur. The perfect grounding, both for her role in the new Barbie film, and her burgeoning status as a ‘bossy’ businesswoman
When the good dolls of Barbie Land were looking for a leader there was only one real candidate. “Basically, Greta said, very sweetly: ‘I would love for you to be my president,’” recalls Issa Rae, AKA Madam President Barbie, of the Barbie movie’s casting process. “I was like: ‘Awww, that’s so sweet! And also just wrong. Obviously I would not be a good president.” Still, she felt honoured to be the desired pick of Greta Gerwig, an Academy Award-nominated director. There was a catch, though: “I hate the colour pink. I’ve never thought that I looked good in pink … So this press tour has been ….” A pained expression passes over Rae’s face before she recovers her perky demeanour. “But I’ve been taking one for the team!”
Problematic pink aside, Rae has taken well to the clothes horse – or rather Barbie doll – aspect of being a female celebrity. The expectation that her appearance should meet certain fashion and beauty standards has been part of her life ever since Insecure hit it big back in 2016. Rae wrote, exec-produced and starred in the HBO series, as a directionless millennial woman – also called Issa – who stumbles through her early 30s in the same predominantly Black south LA neighbourhoods that Rae calls home. Insecure’s Issa may not have known what she was doing, but she always looked good doing it. And after five straight years of slaying all day, every day, Rae felt she must be due a break. “After Insecure was done, I willingly let myself go. I was like, I’m eating everything! I’m not working out! I’m not gonna be in front of a camera for a long time. And then instantly, when I found out I got Barbie, I was like: ‘Oh no! I gotta look like one!’”
