SEX, DRUGS AND BARBIE DOLLS: Jack Ryan's daughter reveals terrifying, sordid life of iconic toy creator
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Warner Bros is getting ready to release Margot Robbie-starrer 'Barbie this summer and people are hyped about. The true story of the doll's creator, however, is a far cry from the usual sparkly tales of Hollywood. Mattel VP Jack Ryan, who also was behind creating Hot Wheels and Chatty Cathy, once took one of his own children hostage and threatened to kill her during a frightening stand-off with the LAPD's SWAT team.
Ryan's eldest daughter, Ann, who is writing a memoir and hosts a podcast called 'Dream House' about how Barbie affected her childhood and her father, revealed many shocking things about her father.
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What did Ann Ryan claim?
Speaking about her father, Ann reportedly said, "My father was drinking and using drugs, cocaine, and he was paranoid," per the New York Post. She continued, "He thought people were after him, that they were listening to him electronically. He believed that people were eavesdropping on him, and in a particularly delusional moment, claimed that they were 'moving the walls.' He was not in good shape."
Ryan resigned from his position as chief designer at Mattel, the biggest toy manufacturer in the world, in the spring of 1977. He was engaged in a bitter court dispute after suing Mattel to recoup millions of dollars in unpaid toy royalties. Mattel Films is one of the producers of the upcoming $100M 'Barbie'.
'The castle looked like post-World War II Dresden'
Ann claimed that Diana, her sister, was taking a break from college at the age of 20 and staying with their father in their "castle," that had a drawbridge and moat, in the affluent Bel Air area of Los Angeles. "My sister had this idea that she was going to become some sort of savior for dad and help him turn his life around," Ann stated, adding, "They had a confrontation and I suspect he thought she was the enemy. By then, the castle looked like post-World War II Dresden."
'Something awful was going on with my father'
Ryan, who had five wives, including actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, designed and constructed the castle where he was known for hosting sex parties while also residing there with his two girls and their mother, his first wife, Barbara Harris. Ann was 22 when one of her father's coworkers at the castle called her. "He did not elaborate. He just said something awful was going on with my father and that I needed to come up to the castle immediately," she claimed.
'Your father’s holding Diana hostage'
The episode began when Diana entered the tiny kitchen that was next to her father's third-floor bedroom and saw that one of the burners was on, heating a pan of shotgun shells. Fearing her father was plotting to "blow up the castle," Diana called the police. "When I got up there, there were tons of cop cars outside the gate and SWAT team vehicles. I was stunned. I didn’t know what was going on," Ann recounted, adding, "His colleague came running out and said, 'You have to come in. Your father’s holding Diana hostage.' The police thought maybe I could talk some sense into my dad. They didn’t know what else to do."
'It was an out-of-body experience'
While trying to diffuse the situation, Ann got drawn into the chaos instead. "He dragged me into the house, into the breakfast room, and the cops had me get under the table. That room looked out onto the hallway where my father and Diana were at the top of the stairs," Ann said, adding, "Dad was holding a gun to Diana’s head, and there were cops with their guns trained on him."
Ann continued, "Diana was trembling and crying. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’d seen him act out before, but nothing this extreme and dangerous. I felt helpless. When the SWAT guy encouraged me to say something to my father, I could hardly form the words — like in a dream when you want to scream, but can’t make a sound. It was an out-of-body experience." Soon she got her father to calm down.
Ryan was taken into custody and then quickly admitted for a psychiatric assessment and therapy at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. After that, according to Ann, he entered a detox program at a Santa Monica private facility. Ryan shot himself in the head in 1991 at the age of 64 because he was depressed over his interactions with Mattel and his own declining health.