Woman who's spent a thousand pounds on Care Bear collection

For kids to have Care Bears, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. But what about a 20-year-old woman with a collection of 600?

April Barrett, from Minnesota, USA, is a self-proclaimed Care Bear addict.

She’s spent a massive £1,200 on the dolls and has a whole room dedicated to them.

April with one of her many care bears

“Some people think I’m crazy but Care Bears are my life,” April says. “I’m obsessed.”

She was given her first care bear age 14 by her mum Cindy, who knew how much she loved them. Determined to collect the 27 other colours of Care Bear, she started saving her pocket money.

“I had Grumpy Bear, Funshine Bear, Laugh-a-lot Bear, all of them,” April says. “But I didn’t want to stop there.”

She began searching online for more merchandise.

“Comic books, video games, T-shirts – you name it, I bought it,” she laughs. “If I saw something with a Care Bear on it, I had to have it.”

By the time she was 16, she’d built up such an impressive collection, they wouldn’t all fit in her bedroom.

“Mum agreed to let me put them all on display in the spare room. It became my very own Care Bear sanctuary,” April says. “It looked magical!”

With parts of the room still bare, she was desperate to fill the space. So April started scouring car boot sales for more stuff.She found Care Bear lunch boxes, clocks, cups and hats.

“The room became my haven, a place to go if I needed cheering up,” she says.

Luckily, when she met her boyfriend Travis, now 24, at a friend’s party, he didn’t mind her crazy collection. In fact, he began buying her more merchandise for it.

“When I wanted to show Travis what he meant to me, I gave him a small teddy bear,” April says. “That’s how much I love him!”

Now April has Care Bear books, key rings as well as other bits and bobs.

“They’re worth every penny!” she insists.

No surprise then that when April and Travis moved into a place of their own recently, she took every single bear with her. And April made sure her Care Bears got a room of their own.

“I’ll keep adding to my collection,” she says. “I’m not stopping!”