No One Believes These Girls Are Twins

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Photo by Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media/Landov

A set of 18-year-old twins are making headlines this week because of just how different they look. Lucy Aylmer, with her pale skin, blue eyes, and red hair, looks white. Maria, who has darker skin and brown eyes and hair, looks black.

Both girls are actually biracial, born to a white father and half-Jamaican mother in January 1997, they tell the Daily Mail. “No one ever believes we are twins,” Lucy says. “Even when we dress alike, we still don’t even look like sisters, let alone twins. Friends have made us produce birth certificates to prove it.”

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Lucy and Maria are two of five siblings, but they say their two brothers and one sister look more similar. “All our older brothers and sister have a skin color which is in between Maria and I,” Lucy says. “We are at opposite ends of the spectrum and they are all somewhere in between.”

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Photo courtesy Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media/Landov

Their grandmother, Lucy says, looks more like her. “[She] has a very fair English rose complexion, just like mine.”

Neither Lucy or Maria responded to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment.

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The girls’ parents, who have since split up, were as surprised as anyone to see their daughters’ looks 18 years ago. “It was such a shock for her because things like skin color don’t show up on scans before birth,” Lucy says. “So she had no idea that we were so different. When the midwife handed us both to her she was just speechless.”

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Photo courtesy Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media/Landov

Dr. Nancy Segal, an expert on twins and author of Born Together - Reared Apart says that while the sisters are striking, their appearance make sense from a scientific standpoint. “Looks all depend on the way the genes are sorted,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “A different set of genes were sent to each child. So they are perfectly normal fraternal twins, but the difference in looks is amazing.”

Segal says she can’t determine the odds of a pair of twins having such contrasting looks, but confirms she has seen it before. “I think it would be great to study these cases, where you already have a control for family history and upbringing,” she says. “Because while these two girls are sisters, based on their looks they may have very different life experiences.”

The sisters’ interests are just as varied as their appearances, according to the Daily Mail: Lucy is at school studying art and design while Maria is studying law. “Maria was outgoing whilst I was the shy one. But Maria loves telling people at college that she has a white twin – and I’m very proud of having a black twin.”

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And while they may have to convince people they are sisters, Lucy says there are some advantages to looking so different. “We were in the same class at infant school, but no one ever had a problem telling us apart,” she says.

On the other hand, the two won’t be pulling a Parent Trap anytime soon. “Twins are known for swapping identities,” Lucy says. “But there was no way Maria and I could ever do anything like that.”

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