Elizabeth Chrisostom with some of her celebrity friends
By Siddhanth Rameesh
Elizabeth Chrisostom, 63, simply falls in love with her dolls, and she would not trade her vast collection of over a thousand dolls from all over the world for anything else -- even if you paid her a million Ringgit!
In fact, when visiting her apartment in Petaling Jaya, one cannot help but realise that it is like being transported into a magical world where the dolls rule.
Since receiving her first doll, Fergie, as a birthday gift when she turned seven, Chrisostom is now living with celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Jackie Kennedy, M Obama, Princess Diana, Shakira, Marilyn Manroe, Liz Taylor and Kate Middleton, among other dolls in her collection.
Whenever she could find some time, she would dress them up, and even give them a good bath and shampoo their hair. “It can sometimes take up to five hours just to do this,” she explains.
Although she has been featured on television, newspapers and magazines, the “Queen of Dolls” denies being a celebrity herself. “I like living a simple lifestyle,” she elaborates. “It is my dolls that are the real celebrities.”
Some of the dolls which are rare can cost a few thousand Ringgit. She buys them from different parts of the world, and sometimes, from her fellow doll collectors.
“When I had to travel to the United Kingdom for my medical treatment, I was able to pay my way by selling three of my dolls,” she says. “For that reason, keeping dolls is a good investment as well.”
However, she adds, if given the choice, she would not part with any of them. “This is because I have my heart in all of the dolls,” she says.
For this reason, even her doctor, who was concerned about her asthmatic condition, could not convince her to get rid of her dolls. “This is because my dolls give me happiness,” she narrates.
One of her favourite past times is to chat on Facebook with fellow doll enthusiasts from around the world, where they compliment each other on how they style and dress the dolls. “We are trying to tell people that dolls are not just for girls,” she says. “It is also for boys!” Siddhanth is eight years old
