Does Barbie Have Parents? Yes, and There’s a Reason You Never See Them Around

Mattel's Barbie brand has expanded into a multi-million dollar corporation. The toy company branded Barbie with clothing, accessories, and pretty much anything else you can think of. And it all started with "stereotypical Barbie," aka Barbara Millicent Roberts.

As an OG, Barbie has more than proven she can do just about anything and work just about everywhere.

She is also a good friend, a supportive partner to Ken (so long as he knows his place), and the ultimate girl boss.

Barbie is also an independent woman who has taught young people to do the same for generations. Turns out, the way she was "raised" may have something to do with that.

Few people know that Barbie has parents and wonder why we've never seen them. Here's what we know about the doll's parents.

Barbie, like most girly pops, has parents. However, those who grew up playing with her might feel a little uneasy since we can't remember knowing our girl has not one but two parental figures in her life. That's because her parents were originally only featured in the 1960s Barbie books written by Cynthia Lawrence and Bette Lou Maybee. In the books, Barbie's parents are George Roberts and Margaret Rawlins Roberts.

The 1960s books depict the Roberts family living in the fictional town of Willows, Wis. George works in their town as an engineer and her mother is a homemaker. The books also feature Barbie's sisters — Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea. While Barbie's youngest sister is named Chelsea in the books, the doll version of her has had several iterations, including Shelly and Kelly in the 1990s and early 2000s.

While Barbie's parents have seemingly always been in the picture, Mattel didn't do a great job of making it look that way. Throughout Barbie's lore, she has been depicted as the ultimate eldest sibling, as she often had to bring her younger sisters along with her wherever she went. I mean, literally everywhere. There was a time when most people believed Kelly aka Chelsea was her daughter, though that's not the case.

Barbie's parents aren't physically in the picture until 2018. George and Margaret made their first appearance on the Netflix movie Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures. In the film, the parents are seemingly active in Barbie and her sisters' lives and there aren't any immediate inkings that she's a latchkey kid.

"I love my parents!" she exclaimed. "They've taught me so many valuable lessons."

While Barbie's parents are often featured in the movie, Mattel has yet to make them physical dolls to sell in store. Fans of the brand have discussed its reasoning behind not creating dolls for the parents, with some fans suggesting on Reddit that Barbie's ever-changing age timeline (sometimes she's a teenager and other times she's an adult with multiple homes) could be why they were never made in doll form.

Barbie's parents also didn't appear in the Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. While the movie adaptation of America's favorite doll featured some of the classic Barbie and Barbie-adjacent characters that were quietly taken off the shelves, the film only featured one of Barbie's sisters and left the rest of the family on the cutting room floor. The 2023 film (spoiler alert?) opens with Barbie waving to skipper in a house that's a replica of Chelsea's treehouse.