Alessandra Ambrosio collects Barbie dolls.

Alessandra Ambrosio

Alessandra Ambrosio

The Victoria's Secret Angel has always been a huge fan of Mattel's iconic blonde doll and now has an extensive collection which includes toys made as far back in 1959 - the year the doll was launched.

Alessandra loves to hunt the dolls down online and in shops and although she used to get embarrassed by her collecting obsession she now pretends they are for their seven-year-old daughter Anja.

The Brazilian catwalk beauty - who also has three-year-old son Noah with her husband Jamie Muzur - said: "(I love Barbies) including antique ones from the 50s. I have about 60, although I can now claim I buy them for my daughter!"

Over the years Alessandra has also amassed a lot of lingerie sets from her job with Victoria's Secret and she doesn't like to get rid of any because you can "never have too many".

In 2014, Alessandra modelled the Dream Fantasy Bra which cost $2.5 million and was made from 16,000 rubies, diamonds and sapphires, all of which were strung together with 18 karat gold.

Ruth Handler was inspired to create Barbie after watching her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls as if they were adults.

She also noticed Barbara couldn't properly dress her dolls in the clothes she had made them.

Ruth along with the help of her husband Elliot - who worked for toy manufacturers Mattel - developed and launched Barbie and instantly had a hit on their hands which has lasted to this day.

Reese Witherspoon is producing a film about Ruth after securing the movie rights to Robin Gerber's book 'Barbie and Ruth', which documents her rise to success with the doll.