Sad truth behind Australia's iconic viral sisters, The Twinnies, revealed by their mother
The heartwarming story behind two of Australia's most recognisable twins has been revealed for the first time.
The Sunshine-Coast-based sisters, Paula and Bridgette Powers, also known as The Twinnies, shot to international fame recently after a TV news interview they did in the aftermath of a violent carjacking went viral.
Dressed in matching blue scrubs with a rabbit pattern, the pair described how their mother went to help a bloodied man only to be confronted with a gun-wielding car thief.
Talking almost in complete unison, the pair captivated social media, but the clip also saw them face widespread trolling for their oddball behaviour.
But behind the viral video lies a beautiful story of two people who have moved past a difficult upbringing and found a meaningful way to give back, despite battling ongoing health issues.
'I brought them home from the hospital and I thought there was something wrong, and in my heart, I knew they were different,' the twins' mother Helen said during an interview on Australian Story on Monday.
'They never really sucked properly on a bottle, they used to scream a lot, they were floppy babies - they didn't sit up until they were about probably 15 months old.'
Their dad, John, shared: 'We could never work out what it was. We took them to doctors and they were in hospital. They just had that many problems and we couldn't, didn't know what to do about it … neither did the doctors.'
The twins started out at a specialist school that helped with speech therapy, and later moved into a mainstream school where they encountered students who made their lives difficult.
'High school was very, very hard for them. As they got older their heart problems started
kicking in. A lot of girls used to give them a hard time about not having boyfriends, asking if they were having it off with one another.'
They left school in year 10 and moved to the Sunshine Coast, where everything started to fall into place when their love of all things wildlife flourished, giving them a new purpose in life. Paula and Bridgette have since established a non profit animal shelter dedicated to caring for sick and injured birds.
Their close friend, Claire Smith, said that the twins' love for sea birds has driven them all these years.
'Twinnies suffer with a lot of debilitating illnesses, but the birds keep them going,' she said.
'We've got osteoporosis already and got heart problems, and we've got stomach problems, but we just go from one day to the next,' shared Bridgette.
Paula added that the pair struggle with seeing each other struggling.
'It's hard watching my twin sister with that angry, kind of sad face when she's in pain. And it's hard for my twin sister to see me sick.'
The twins admitted that it's their health issues that will eventually force them to stop dedicating their lives to saving birds in need.
'We do feel like we're going to fall off our perch,' they shared, revealing their plans for their rescue centre should they not find a suitable replacement to take over: 'We'll knock everything down and turn it into wetlands where birds can fly in and out and they'll be safe'.
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