Phillip Castleton
Ever since their now-famous synchronised interview recounting a violent carjacking aired on TV, identical twins Bridgette and Paula Powers, affectionately known as “the Twinnies”, have had the world in a tailspin.
But it wasn’t until US late- night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! got in touch with them that the Queensland sisters, 51, realised they’d gone viral in a very big way.
Speaking in unison to Woman’s Day, as they did in the video, the twins recall, “They contacted us and said, ‘Do you know you’ve gone viral?’ It must have been 12 hours after the interview aired. We had no idea. We just can’t believe it’s gone around the world.”
The pair say that they have been inundated with requests ever since, with Saturday Night Live using their likeness in a skit, while Jimmy has invited them over to the US to appear on his show.
Their popularity is even evident within the few hours we’re on location with them at their pelican and seabird rescue sanctuary on the Sunshine Coast, with countless passers-by beeping their horns, calling out their names or pulling up on the side of the road with their phones ready to capture a glimpse of the world-famous sisters.
It’s all a bewildering experience for the siblings, who – despite being known in their community for their incredible work saving and rehabilitating birds – have never dealt with this level of attention before.
“We’re getting quite a bit of conflict online, but the good outweighs the bad,” they reveal, adding that most of the commentary is to do with the way they mirror each other’s language. “Many think that we’re putting it on, but we’ve always been this way.”
From an early age, the Twinnies had conjured up a secret language that only they could decode. Now they dress the same, talk the same and, yes, the sisters even sleep in the same bedroom.
“When we’re separate, we feel completely empty,” they explain. “It’s like when you pull apart a magnet – it just doesn’t work.”
Twins researcher Professor Jeff Craig says the siblings are the closest example of “two bodies, one soul” that he has ever seen.
“He did over 500,000 epigenetic tests on us and he found that we’re 99.9% the same,” says the sisters. “Only 1% was missing and he said that was probably in our mother’s womb.”
Even though the pair dedicate all their time to saving birds, the unlikely stars are not ruling out future work in TV. So would they consider Aussie reality series I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!?
“We’ll have to see,” they tease. “But we’re never going to lose sight of what we love and that’s the birds. If it can help with raising awareness about the birds, then that’s great.”
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