Like Ilona Maher, Her Trailblazing Signature Barbie Is Also Super Strong [Exclusive]

We chatted with Maher about her debut doll, which features Barbie’s first-ever muscular sculpt.

Ilona Maher / Per Mattel, Inc.

Meet the Barbie that literally has muscles. Unveiled today by Mattel, Olympic medal-winning rugby player Ilona Maher is the next SI Swimsuit model (joining Sue Bird and Venus Williams) with a signature doll, available for purchase in 2026.

Announced on International Day of the Girl, Maher’s doll joins three additional members of “Team Barbie”—a group of international rugby stars making strides in their nations and around the world. The full roster includes England’s Ellie Kildunne, New Zealand’s Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and France’s Nassira Konde.

Ilona Maher, Ellie Kildunne, Nassira Konde and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe with their dolls. / Per Mattel, Inc.

Maher’s doll, however, is a first for the brand. With wide-set shoulders, powerful, chiseled arms and a defined core and back, the muscular frame of the 29-year-old’s Barbie is intentionally curated. It is also slightly lengthier than the brand’s original figures—fitting for the near 6-foot-tall multihyphenate. There have been no other dolls, per the brand, with a sculpt like Maher’s.

Ilona Maher / Per Mattel, Inc.

And we caught up with the SI Swimsuit’s second-ever digital cover model on the heels of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, where she dove into her doll’s history-making figure and what’s next for the sport that’s commanding everyone’s attention.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Barbie shatters the status quo

Ilona Maher doll / Per Mattel, Inc.

I call it a 'war paint'—the lipstick and the braids. It’s like you're ready to go to battle. So she's ready to get out there right now.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at the doll. Styled in a red, white and navy blue uniform with the athlete’s last name printed on its back, Maher’s Barbie is suited up to hit the field. “We have some knee pads because I do wear those,” she quips, as she displays her mini-me. She even has a ball in her hand.

“It was really a collaborative process," Maher says of the doll’s design. “I wanted to really feel like the Barbie was myself, and I wanted to see myself in her.”

Ilona Maher / Per Mattel, Inc.

That meant some additional adjustments, from the brightness of its cherry-red lips—which we’re assuming was a nod to her tried and true Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick—and a duo of French braids. “I call it a ‘war paint’—the lipstick and braids,” she says, “It’s like you’re ready to go to battle. So she’s ready to get out there right now.”

The doll’s history-making sculpt also hit home for Maher, who notes that it took time to harness the power of her own frame. “Broad shoulders, once being an insecurity for me, I’m so proud of [them] now, and I love them so much that I wanted the doll to also have that,” the bronze medalist admits.

Ilona Maher / Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

“And so, for her to have these great biceps and broad shoulders, it just felt right because that’s something that has brought me to where I am today,” the athlete continues. “I’m an Olympian, and I’m an amazing rugby player because of my build and my body. So to see it on a Barbie doll, hopefully young girls will play with [it] and know that they can be a pro athlete as well.”

What’s next for the sport?

The girls who are [going to] get my Barbie dream of being a pro athlete, which is something that at times was not realistic, but now is becoming that way.

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Maher’s doll debuts less than 10 days after the finale match of the Women’s World Cup, where Kildunne’s Red Roses took the crown with a 33-13 victory over Canada. Following the festivities, tournament’s chief executive, Alan Gilpin, deemed the roughly month-long competition as “the greatest Rugby World Cup of all time” after it shattered attendance records for its final match and ticket sales for the entire tournament.

“I think what’s on the horizon for rugby is we are going to see more people going out to see a game and more people buying tickets to go be in the stands—and that’s what we need to see,” Maher implores. “We need to see more people supporting the game, supporting the girls, because we are pro, but not a lot of us are pro. There’s a very small number—and by ‘pro,’ it means we’re still not making a lot of money.”

Ilona Maher at the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 / George Wood/World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

In her SI Swimsuit digital cover story last year, the model shared that she has teammates still in the workforce, while their male counterparts make their own living on the field. “[Men] get to play rugby and they get paid millions of dollars while we make minimum wage and this won’t be a career for us,” she says.

Therefore, when it comes to her debut Barbie doll, Maher sees a brighter future for the younger generation—the same generation that will see their first Barbie with strong biceps and a pair of red lips.

Members of Team USA during the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 / Morgan Harlow/World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

There are so [many] more people that I think I can have the impact on.

“I wanna see these girls dream of being professional athletes,” she tells us with both a look of excitement and determination. “The girls who are [going to] get my Barbie dream of being a pro athlete, which is something that, at times, was not realistic—but now is becoming that way.”

Because, really, that’s what keeps the athlete going. Picking the Olympian’s brain, we ask what motivates her in moments of adversity. Her answer is a four-word phrase, rooted in both community and ambition.

Ilona Maher / Dan Mullan/Getty Images

“I kind of say, ‘it’s greater than me,’” Maher states. “There are so [many] more people that I think I can have an impact on.”

Still, before we part ways, we just had to ask Maher the ultimate hypothetical: “You’ve mentioned consistently that you could [see yourself] cast as Wonder Woman. Let’s say, if there was ever a Barbie sequel, hypothetically, could we see you on the big screen?”

She hesitates at first. Then, she enthusiastically answers, “I hope so! I’d love to be a Barbie—like I am a Barbie, literally.” After a brief pause, she shares a confident and completely on-brand declaration: “No, yeah, I’ll kill that role.”

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In alignment with the campaign, Mattel disclosed in a press release on Monday morning that it will be “making a donation to girls’ sports organizations" in the home nations of every member of Team Barbie "to fund programming focused on unlocking girls’ confidence."

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