Colombian model Tatiana Murillo claims she underwent at least 29 surgeries to look like a real Barbie after being bullied at school for her appearance

A Colombian influencer claims she has undergone almost 29 surgeries as part of her infatuation with turning herself into the human version of Barbie.

Tatiana Murillo, also known as ‘The Colombian Barbie’, sought a change in her physical appearance as a result of the bullying she experienced while attending school in Caicedo, a town in the northwest of Antioquia.

“In my city, where the girls were very beautiful, they called them Barbies,” said the model, quoted by El Tiempo.

Murillo admitted that she “wasn’t very pretty” and was bullied by her classmates because of her brown skin color.

“So that’s why they bullied me, because of my appearance, because of the color of my skin,” she said. ‘Also because of my social class, because my parents have always been farmers.’

Tatiana Murillo, known as “The Colombian Barbie,” said she was bullied at a young age because of her brown skin color. “In my town, where the girls were very beautiful, they called them Barbies,” she said

Murillo, who was never a fan of the Mattel doll to begin with, was only 11 years old when she underwent her first surgery, a nose job.

Since then, she has undergone several surgeries, including liposuction, lip augmentation and breast implants.

In August, she underwent a procedure to remove her eyelashes.

She has even used products on her face to change the skin color from brown to white, a process that turned out to be painful.

“My skin has become red, peeling, it hurts and all kinds of things have happened to me,” she said. “That’s why I tell you I’m a lab rat, because this treatment is experimental, although fortunately it has given me very good results.”

Tatiana Murillo, known as ‘The Colombian Barbie’, was just 11 years old when she underwent her first surgery, a rhinoplasty. Since then, she has undergone more than two dozen procedures to change her appearance, including liposuction and breast implants

Tatiana Murillo was criticized in 2022 for getting a nose job as a birthday present for her daughter, who turned 13

Murillo chronicles every step of her journey to becoming a real-life Barbie to more than 395,000 followers on Instagram and more than 795,000 followers on TikTok.

“I believed in the story of becoming that doll and therefore becoming unique in Colombia,” she said. ‘It was a kind of revenge on all those who bullied me as a child. From an early age I told myself, “My revenge will be successful.” And I achieved it.”

However, her quest for fame has sometimes come with criticism, especially in April 2022, when her daughter’s 12th birthday was celebrated by gifting her with surgery to change the shape of her nose.

“She has already made one of his dreams come true, which was a nose job,” Murillo said at the time. “I want to say to my followers: yes, it is possible, with certain characteristics that Sophie clearly met, yes, you can operate on minors.”

The process of finding the perfect look continues to drive Murillo, but has deterred others, including Brazil’s Felipe Dias.

The 19-year-old from São Paulo spent two years saving money to realize his dream of resembling a human Ken doll and undergoing 42 operations.

In September 2022, Dias did some soul searching and realized it wasn’t worth it anymore.

“I saw problems in myself that weren’t there, I don’t see the need for surgery now,” Dias told Brazilian online news portal G1 at the time. “I looked at myself in the mirror and saw myself.”