They’ve just won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the NEXT Woman of the Year 2019 Awards but if they’re feeling big-headed about it, you’d never know.
Two more gracious women you’d be hard pressed to meet. The Topp Twins are among New Zealand’s most iconic and celebrated entertainers but they’re also activists – in the past 40 years they’ve courageously campaigned for the rights of women, gays and lesbians, unions, and a nuclear-free New Zealand. They have made an invaluable mark on New Zealand’s social, political and cultural landscape.
Spend time with them in person, however, and you’ll find they’re more like a favourite pair of aunties.
What you see is what you get and it would not be hard to while away the rest of the day with them, just sitting about chatting.
They’re here in Auckland briefly – Lynda up from the café she runs with her partner Donna in Methven, Canterbury and Jools down from her farm in the Kaipara, north of Auckland, for a brief catch-up with the teams at NEXT magazine and Now To Love.
When we ask them what they’ve been up to the conversation quickly turns to Lynda’s granddaughter, Lyric Willow. Lyric, the child of Lynda’s partner Donna’s son Cam, has just turned one and the twin sisters are looking forward to attending Lyric’s first birthday party in October. Their mum, Jean, will be there too – their father Peter sadly passed away last year.
Becoming ‘grandies’ (Lynda a grandmother and Jools a great aunt) is something they admit they never thought they’d get to experience. “We’re all gay,” the pair laugh raucously, referring also to their brother, Bruce.
They cherish these unexpected roles.
“That’s been a bit of a treat really, to have a little girl in the family,” Lynda smiles.
“I take her on guided tours and show her everything… people say she’s never going to learn anything like that and I say she learns all the time.”
Her eyes dance as she shares anecdotes about Lyric attempting her first yodel and uttering ‘woof, woof’ when she saw a dog.
“She can’t speak English but she knows all the animal noises,” the pair laugh.
Jools pauses for a second while she figures out, if Lynda’s a grandmother, “What does that make me?”
An auntie? she ponders.
“Great auntie,” Lynda replies.
“BRILLIANT auntie,” Jools chortles.
In this video the sisters talk about the importance of family and the difference that becoming ‘grandies’ has made to their lives – and they sing for us.