NATE BURLESON:
00:00:00
Ilona Maher joins us now. Good morning. Good morning. Hello. All right, so you burst on the scene helping your team in that historic run in the Olympics last year. But then it was your beauty, your essence, your passion, your authenticity on social media, not to mention Sports Illustratedcover, and a bunch of cool things have happened since then. What is life like Ilona Maher these days? It's been so cool because it's so different than any, I think, path of any rugby player right now, and I'd like to think I'm carving my own. So I've been doing so much cool stuff that I wanted to do. I've always wanted to do SportsIllustrated,all this other stuff-- Dancing with the Starsand whatnot-- I never really wanted to do that, but I did do it, and it was amazing. All these things that I'm just getting to experience. Rugby is an unusual sport for some people. They haven't considered it. What do you want people to know, particularly young girls, to know about rugby? It's such a beautiful sport in that it really shows you just what your body is capable of and how capable and how amazing you can be. I'm a big girl. I've always been a big, strong girl. And when I got to the rugby pitch, I was told to be as powerful, as big as possible. And for somebody like me, I was like, OK, here's a space for me that I'm welcomed in. And I think any rugby team anywhere will welcome you. And it's a social network that you have for the rest of your life.
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:01:12
That's cool.
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:01:12
We got to talk about this Barbie sitting next to you. This is amazing. And she has your signature red lipstick, which I also love. How do you feel looking at this Barbie, and how much input did you have in her creation? I'm really proud. I mean, I was a big Barbie player. What do we do with Barbies?
NATE BURLESON:
00:01:28
Yeah, you play with them.
ILONA MAHER:
00:01:29
Play with Barbie, Barbie player. I'm really proud. I think it felt a little natural as well. And we did the Adidas boots, and we did the lipstick and the hair braid, things just really I'm known for. So it was so cool to see and to be in the process. She's got some bulky biceps. I actually got to hit the gym later. That's bigger than mine. But I'm really proud because I think I always played with them. So now girls can play with this as well. And when they're putting on the princess outfits or the fairy outfits and with the broad muscles, it's like, oh, that can be me, and that is beautiful still. I love it. Some people online I was just reading were saying that they don't think the Barbie represents you accurately enough. It sounds like you agree that it does. Well, where are you on this, I guess, is my question? I don't think it's-- is it me perfectly? You can't get my thighs in a Barbie. These are-- is it me perfectly? No, I don't think so. But I think it has the attributes of me that I like. What it is is that this doll is going to be used for other athletes as well. So this isn't just going to be me. When Coco Gauff gets a doll and whatnot, this is the Barbie type for the athletic build that will be used for that.
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:02:31
Oh, OK. So I'm the start of it. They got my jawline in there. But this is the Barbie that's going to be kind of built on. And this is a new shape that they've done. So I'm just kind of at the forefront. [LAUGHTER]
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:02:42
A pioneer, some would say. A pioneer, you would say. But it will be used for time and time again for so many more amazing female athletes who will get their own Barbie.
ADRIANA DIAZ:
00:02:50
I love this. I want to get this Barbie for my daughter. It is so important to see women doing all sorts of things. And it's not just the princesses. And you can also be a princess and look all sorts of ways. But let's talk about Heidi Klum's Halloween party because you were there. What was that like? What did you dress up as? You know what I realized? Halloween parties are fun, but then you actually don't recognize who anybody is. And you're like, actually, this is kind of tough. I don't know who's talking. You're like, hey, you. What's up? I'd know that forearm anywhere. I was a vintage Barbie, kind of one of the outfits that Margot wore on her tour. I had--
NATE BURLESON:
00:03:24
Oh, there it is. OK!
ILONA MAHER:
00:03:26
I don't think I'm meant to be blonde. That's scary.
NATE BURLESON:
00:03:28
You look good.
ILONA MAHER:
00:03:30
Really scary.
ILONA MAHER:
00:03:31
No, I didn't like-- as I was getting it done, I was like, nope, take it off. Take it off. I don't want it. But I was vintage Barbie just in honor of this. And I had an old gown made. It was cool. I got to take my pictures. I went in. And I was like, all right, this is what Halloween is. In our final 30 seconds, are you going to go to LA in 2028 for the Olympics? That is my goal. I think it'd be too cool to play in a home Olympics and to see what else we can do with the sport and make it rise. So yeah, I'm going to get back into it and train. It's a different level of fitness that I got to get back to-- because this was '15, so it's different.
NATE BURLESON:
00:04:03
Yeah, listen, everything that you're getting, you deserve. So keep rocking on and doing good your thing. Thank you.
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:04:08
Ilona Maher, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
