Shaun White Now Has His Own Signature Barbie Doll

When Shaun White was growing up, his sister Kari had Barbie dolls everywhere. And naturally, being a younger brother, he and his brother Jesse would commandeer those Barbie dolls.

"We, as her brothers, were not very kind to these dolls," Shaun said with a laugh in an interview with Snowboarder. "You know, whenever your sibling cares a lot about something, you're like, oh, that's their weakness. We're going to mess with these dolls."

In a full circle moment, Shaun White himself has been turned into a Ken doll. The greatest halfpipe rider of all time has been named a Kenbassador .

Mattel introuduced the Kenbassadors program in honor of the Ken doll's 65th anniversary this year. Shaun is the third honoree in the collection. The first was LeBron James . The second was Lenny Kravitz . The series honors men who have made an impact on culture.

Shaun got the phone call from Mattel one day, asking if he'd like to have his own doll in the Barbie universe, and immediately thought back to those days when he and his siblings would play with Barbies or G.I. Joe action figures. At first, he thought he'd lean all the way into the nostalgia, and have the doll represent the version of Shaun White that won three Olympic gold medals and 23 X Games medals.

"Originally I was like, alright, we've got to go retro. We'll do long hair. The accessory was going to be a USA bandana," he said. "That was my original thought. But when you actually take something big and miniaturize it, I was like, we can't do this. The hair was wild, dude."

So instead, Shaun and the folks at Mattel leaned into the current moment. A snowboard and outerwear from Whitespace, the board brand he started alongside his brother Jesse. A Snow League competitor's bib complete with Shaun's name and number on the back. It's been surreal, he said, seeing people in coffee shops wearing a Whitespace hoodie, or seeing random riders at resorts on one of the snowboards that bares his name. It is even more so to see that work on a Barbie doll.

"Getting a call from Mattel that I'm you know being selected to be a Kenbassador doll after retirement, it just feels good. It feels amazing," he said. "All of this wasn't forgotten. I'm still you know respected in the space, thought of as this type of athlete, you know? In this echelon of athlete with LeBron."

Shaun got to give his neices and nephews early samples of the doll. In a full circle moment, they were also not very kind to the Ken version of Uncle Shaun. The first photos he got back were of his family members posing with the doll in the packaging. The next photos featured the doll in back-breaking poses, and crumpled packaging laying on the floor.

"My sister was like 'how it started' and then 'how it ended,'" he said.

You can find the Shaun White Kenbassador doll at major retailers and Mattel Creations now.

Related: Shaun White Appears On Hot Ones With Tony Hawk

This story was originally published by Snowboarder on Oct 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Snowboarder as a Preferred Source by clicking here.