A 26-year-old woman who “just never stopped playing with dolls” now has a reborn hyper realistic doll collection, often “dressing them up” and thinks her “fun and therapeutic hobby” is something more women should do as “men don’t have to give up their hobbies” as they get older.
Rochelle Sadd, a disability support worker, from New South Wales, Australia, always loved playing with dolls, especially baby dolls and Barbies, and when she was around 12 years old she saw an advert for reborns and instantly it was all she could think about, she says.
She could not wait to go into year nine of secondary school, as students got an option to take home a RealCare baby, a baby doll that simulated a real baby.
When she finally got to take one home, she thought it was “so cool” and “loved playing with it” and began repairing dolls in her spare time.
At 17 years old, Rochelle got a second-hand reborn baby, which she thought was the “best thing ever” and she now has six dolls in total, with the most expensive doll costing 1,000 Australian dollars (£514).
Rochelle’s newborn doll, called Nixon, is her favourite because it looks like her and if she had a son, “maybe that’s what he would look like”.
Day to day, Rochelle dresses the dolls up, but asserts that she knows “they are dolls” and does not act “as if they are completely real”.
Now, Rochelle shares her hobby online, on YouTube and Instagram, where she goes by Shell Bell, to her thousands of followers, and has found a reborn community – she often meets up with a group of women with reborn dolls despite the public acting like they are “not happy or they don’t approve”.
Rochelle told PA Real Life: “I just never stopped playing with dolls – I’ve always loved it.
“I think they’re beautiful and it’s a fun and therapeutic hobby.
“I love dressing them up in cute clothes and collecting them, and I always think it shouldn’t be considered weird or stigmatised – men get to play with train sets and video games when they get older, so why can’t women?
“Men don’t have to give up on their hobbies.”
When Rochelle was around 12 years old she saw an advert for reborn dolls on her mother’s computer and became desperate to own one.
She explained: “When I was a little girl, I saw an email advertising this gorgeous, beautiful lifelike doll that was in a beautiful dress, and they were very expensive.
“I just remember thinking I wish I could have one of those, I really wanted one, it’s all I could think about.”
One of Rochelle’s high school highlights was having a RealCare baby doll to take home as it was the closest thing to a reborn doll.
She said: “I could not wait to go into year nine in high school so I could have this real doll and play with it.
“I was just so fascinated by it, I thought it was so cool.
“I loved playing with it so much.
View of super realistic dolls during a gathering of collectors and producers in a mall in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil on November 6, 2022
