Ruth Handler Club children's television show, Mattel invested heavily in television advertising. The TV commercials for the Barbie doll paid off and Barbie rocketed Mattel and the Handlers to fame and fortune. Subsequently, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other "friends and family" to Barbie's world. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. She had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease, and because of difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, she decided to make her own. Handler went on to found a
Evan Handler of his long journey toward gratitude in the years after his illness. The book was released in May 2008. Handler has written for several nationally distributed magazines, including "ELLE", "O, the Oprah Magazine", and "Mirabella". Handler contributes regularly to "The Huffington Post". Evan married Elisa Atti, an Italian-born chemist, in 2003, and they have a daughter, Sofia Clementina Handler (born January 17, 2007). Handler has a brother Lowell and a sister Lillian. Lowell Handler, a writer and photographer, is the author of the book "Twitch & Shout: A Touretter's Tale" and the star, narrator, and associate producer of the Emmy-nominated