Rodrigo Alves was a Ken Doll but now she’s a Barbie & would love to have a baby
HE really put the plastic in plastic surgery by becoming a human Ken doll – but now Rodrigo Alves is well on his way to becoming Barbie instead.
After spending £650,000 on more than 60 ops to look like his toy hero, the 36-year-old former cabin crew worker has revealed he now uses the name Jessica, has blown another £100,000 on getting the female body of her dreams — and would love to be a mum one day.
She told The Sun: “I’d always felt feminine and when I struggled to be manly with my personality, I decided to make my appearance as masculine as possible instead.
“But no matter how much I looked liked Ken nothing eased the pain of being Barbie inside.
“It was a really tough decision for me, but I just reached the point where I couldn’t live as a man any more.
“In November last year I started surgeries to remove the masculine implants I’d spent so much money on years before and in January this year I started feminisation surgeries to make me a woman.
“It’s been a long, painful, expensive journey, but I’m finally at a point in my life that I look in the mirror and I’m starting to see me.”
In 2014 The Sun revealed the then Rodrigo’s extreme look as Ken, which gained him legions of fans, plus a photoshoot with Italian Vogue mag and a spot on Celebrity Big Brother.
When I met her back then she was shy and polite as she prepared to pose on her first photoshoot to show off her surgical transformation.
Today, when Jessica enters The Sun photo studios, I’m met with someone who is self-assured — still incredibly polite but with a confidence I never saw six years earlier.
Jessica, who lives in Barking, East London, was born Rodrigo in São Paulo to a Brazilian mum and a British dad who was an airline pilot.
Raised in a Catholic family and sent to a Catholic school, she recalled: “I was brought up by my mum, my two aunties and my grandma, so I was surrounded by women.
"I have a sister who is four years younger and I was never interested in my toys. Instead I played with her beautiful Barbie dolls. I’d plait their long, blonde hair and I loved their pink outfits.
“I would dance in front of the TV wearing my sister’s dresses and while my mum never cared, my father would put a stop to it.
£650,000 of ops to become Ken
- Nose jobs x10
- Chin implants x3
- Six-pack implants
- Bicep fillers
- Leg liposuction
- Calf implants
- Hair transplant
- Jaw liposuction
- Botox (numerous)
- Fillers (numerous)
- Teeth veneers
- Rib removal
- Body liposuction
- Cheek implants
- Chin implants
- Threadlifts
- Liplift
- “Face reduction”
- Bum injections
- Eye lift
- Facelifts x3
- Masotheraphy
- Pec implants
- Neck lift
“He’d tell everyone off, saying, ‘He’s a boy, you’re ruining him, he needs to be a man’.
“Back then I didn’t know there was a difference between boys and girls. I assumed we all had the same genitals.
“At school I hung out with the girls, and the boys would bully me for not fitting in.
“I always grew my hair longer than the others and when I was 13 I bought peroxide to dye it blond.”
When Jessica reached puberty, she began to resent not being “manly” like other boys.
Jessica said: “When I was 16 I had developed man boobs and I hated them.
“To me they were a physical sign that I was more feminine than the others, so my parents agreed to pay for cosmetic surgery to have them removed. This was the start of it all.”
Accepted to study at the London School of Economics, she flew to the UK.
Jessica said: “At university I was surrounded by really cool, confident people — and I didn’t fit in all over again.
“After my studies I qualified as Virgin Atlantic cabin crew and travelled the world for a year, saving as much money as I could.
“It was then that I started planning my transformation. I didn’t have a manly body so I told myself that if I couldn’t get the muscles that other men have, I would buy them.
"I researched everything I wanted and over a year I had everything done artificially.”
Aged 26, the then Rodrigo had three nose jobs, chin enlargements, six-pack implants, bicep fillers, leg liposuction, calf implants, a hair transplant, jaw liposuction, Botox, fillers and veneers.
Jessica said: “After my first article with The Sun I suddenly became famous.
“I started getting interviews, photoshoots and TV appearances and earning lots more.
“I felt accepted and it fuelled a surgery obsession. I had 11 nose jobs, cheek and pec implants, liposuction, ribs removed. I became world famous.
£100,000 of ops to become Barbie (so far)
- Six-pack removal
- Breast implants
- Forehead shaved down
- Titanium face implants
- Jawline shaved
- Chin reduction
- Adam’s apple reduced
- Hair extensions
- Veneers
- Lip filler
- Botox
- Eye lift
- Liposuction
- Facelift
“But although I thought I was happy, I was fighting against my true self.”
So at the start of 2019 she decided to make the transition from male to female.
Jessica recalled: “I thought all my celebrity work would dry up and people wouldn’t be interested in me any more because I was no longer the human Ken doll, but I felt I had no choice.
“I started by dressing more gender-neutrally and wearing a bit of make-up while I planned my surgical transition.
“In November I had my six-pack removed and fat from my back put into my hips and butt. That cost £15,000.
"In January I had 36DD breast implants, costing £3,000, and three weeks ago I had full feminisation surgery.
“They shaved my forehead down to remove the bump that men produce during puberty and I had two titanium implants fitted either side of my face to lift my eyes.
“They shaved my jawline and chin down, then they shaved down my Adam’s apple. I’ve also had veneers costing £9,000 and 600g of hair extensions costing £8,000.
“It was massive surgery and although I have a high pain threshold, recovery has been tough.
"I still have more surgery booked in but I have to recover and put on weight as they need more fat to remove and put in my hips.
“I will have bum implants and another nose job as well as more hair extensions to make my hair blonder and longer, like Barbie’s.
“I still haven't had genital surgery either. I wanted to accentuate my femininity with my surgery this time round.
“Now I’m expressing myself for the first time. I want to show that I am elegant but sexy, with Barbie glamour thrown in.”
So after 74 operations costing £750,000, and now she has the feminine body she wanted, will Jessica ever be satisfied with her looks?
She said: “I do always want more but it’s because I’m learning how to be a woman. I’m learning how to walk like a woman and what my style is. And part of that is learning what I want to physically look like.
“I don’t think I’ve taken it too far. No doctors have ever refused me surgery. There is a limit to how much a person can take and I’ve had about 30 general anaesthetics and sometimes five procedures at once.
“It doesn’t always go to plan. My nose is so botched I can’t breathe out of it and if I get a cold it could be really bad, but I live a healthy lifestyle to make sure I’m strong on the inside.”
But how does she afford it all? She said: “I earn a lot on TV in Italy and Germany.
“I get paid £20k for 30 minutes for some shows and this month I’m on a celebrity cooking show in Romania, a documentary in Belgium, doing photoshoots in the UK and planning to go to the US to be on the TV show Botched.”
Jessica has her next life goals planned too. She said: “I want to find love. I’ve only had two short relationships in my life and I’m desperate to find a partner.
“My ideal man is independent. I don’t like funny men. I like an intelligent man who knows how to treat a woman and will enjoy my body. I want a tall guy with a great physique.”
And she added: “In the future I want to be a mother. I feel I was born to it.
"Once I find love, I’d like to adopt and have a big family.
“I don’t speak to my dad any more but my mum knows I have transitioned and she is happy for me.
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";She hasn’t met Jessica yet but she will very soon and I can’t wait.
“Looking back, I tried my hardest to be a man and I failed.
“But now I am the woman I was always meant to be — and I’m finally happy.”
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