Heather McDonald Explains the Origin of Her Barbie Real Housewives Reenactments
And the comedian shared which Real Housewives franchise is the next to get the Barbie treatment.
Comedian Heather McDonald regularly talks Real Housewives and reality TV on her podcast, Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald. And she continues to explore her love of all things Bravo in her reenactment videos, in which she reenacts scenes from different Real Housewives episodes with Barbie dolls. Heather sat down with The Daily Dish podcast to explain exactly how the Barbie reenactments came to be.
"It was like six or seven months ago and I was just walking down the toy aisle because I had to get something for a little girl and it dawned on me how so many of the Barbies kind of look like the Housewives," she said. "Beverly Hills I think was the first one I did. And then it just became so fun trying to do their hair. I could always do their voices and stuff but then the actual reenacting an entire scene was kind of like the first time I've ever put myself as a director. For all my years of working in television, I've never really directed.
"And then all of a sudden my assistant, who's really more like a producer too, she would help edit it and put it together, but then to be like, 'OK, shoot from behind this one doll's head so we get a good angle.' We even got out the Ring light so that the girls looked especially attractive. So there would be little things we'd be doing like filming by the pool and there would be a moment where I'd be like, 'Wait a minute, they don't have sunscreen on.' I'd forget they were dolls. It really made me happy how happy it made other people."
Heather also said she omitted F-bombs in the videos to make them more universal for people of all ages. She also started receiving items for the Barbies from a podcast listener. "The first was a lovely Lisa Rinna duster in a leopard print. She just sent it to me out of the blue," she said.
"What's great is that the Housewives themselves really like them; some more than others. Some were always retweeting, reposting, and loving it. I kind of like that it was something fun that I could do that no one would be offended by," Heather added.
Heather hopes to do "classic scenes" next, like The Real Housewives of New York City's "Scary Island," and The Real Housewives of New Jersey's table flip. She also shared that The Real Housewives of Dallas is the next franchise up for the Barbie treatment.
In fact, it's not just Real Housewives scenes she reenacts; the following Southern Charm scene with Heather's self-proclaimed "off-brand Barbie" as Austen Kroll might look familiar to fans.
To hear how Heather found the perfect Barbie for Austen, and for more on future Barbie videos, check out the podcast episode above.
