Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
Meet the fraternal twins who are asked for ID to prove that they are even related.
Lucy and Maria Aylmer, from Gloucester in the UK, were born in 1997 to their half-Jamaican mother, Donna, and their white father, Vince. They have grown accustomed to being mistaken for being ‘just friends’, Barcroft Media reports.
“No one ever believes we are twins because I am white and Maria is black,” Lucy explains. “Even when we dress alike, we still don’t even look like sisters, let alone twins.”
Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
After giving birth naturally, the twins’ mother did a double-take as she saw her daughters for the very first time.
“It was such a shock for her because obviously things like skin color don’t show up on scans before birth,” Lucy said. “So she had no idea that we were so different. When the midwife handed us both to her, she was just speechless.”
The twins are the youngest of five children, which include Jordan, George and Chynna.
Lucy and Maira Aylmer pose with their mother, Donna, father, Vince, and siblings George, Chynna and Jordan. Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
“No one ever believes we are twins.”
“All our older brothers and sisters have a skin color which is in between Maria and I,” Lucy said. “We are at opposite ends of the spectrum and they are all somewhere in between.”
“But my grandmother has a very fair English rose complexion, just like mine.
“No one ever believes we are twins. Even when we dress alike, we still don’t look like sisters, let alone twins. Friends have even made us produce our birth certificates to prove it.”
Lucy says one of the best things about having a twin who looks completely different is that people don’t mistake them for one another.
Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
“Maria and I couldn’t look more different if we tried”
“We were in the same class at infant school, but no one ever had a problem telling us apart,” she explained. “Most twins look like two peas in a pod — but Maria and I couldn’t look more different if we tried. We don’t even look like we have the same parents, let alone having been born at the same time.”
Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
The girls’ personalities are almost as different as their appearance. Lucy added: “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.”
Photo credit: Worldwide Features/Barcroft Media
Hear from Lucy and Maria in their interview with Insider below.
