A special family beat a million to one odds when they gave birth to two sets of twins that have different skin colors. Alison Spooner and Dean Durrant from Hampshire, England, had their first set of twin girls in 2001. Their daughter Hayleigh has dark skin and hair like her father, while Lauren has white skin and light eyes like her mother. The family was shocked when seven years later Alison gave birth to another set of biracial twin girls.
The younger twin girls are named Leah and Miya and they have looked up to their older sisters their entire lives. Hayleigh and Lauren turned 18 in 2019 but when they were in school together their peers did not believe they were related, let alone twin sisters. This made the girls feel unaccepted and they had to learn to appreciate their differences.
Even though they don’t look the same, both sets of twins are incredibly close and have many similarities. They generally like the same things and will finish each other’s sentences. They have bonded even further due to their shared experiences of not fitting in and having their classmates call them liars for claiming to be twins.
This family feels grateful for their miracle twins. The odds of one set of twins being born with different skin tones is one in 500. For two sets of twins, the odds are estimated to be one in a million. Keep reading to learn more about this incredible family and what the girls have gone through growing up biracial twins.
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Even though the girls weren’t exactly bullied while growing up, they still felt like they did not belong. Hayleigh shared with The Sun:
“Some people can be really rude. They’ll say, ‘You’re lying, you aren’t twins — prove it!’ So we’ll reel off the same address or pull our passports out. It’s nice to see the shock on people’s faces. When we went to college it was difficult because there were lots of groups of Asian, white, and black kids. The black group was trying to integrate me and I was like, ‘This is my white twin sister.’ No one could believe it. People look at us like it’s some kind of miracle.”
In 2019, the girls’ mother, Alison, said: “I can’t believe my miracle babies are turning 18. They are best friends and close in every way, apart from looking different. It took me some years to understand the science of how they could appear so different. All the time people say, ‘They are not twins’. One lady at the doctor’s once said, ‘I just assumed one was yours and the other was her friend.’”
Alison continued, “They were never really bullied, though there were some nasty comments initially. Kids at school used to ask, ‘How come one of you is milk chocolate and the other is white chocolate?’ The girls used to say, ‘It doesn’t matter, we’re sisters and best friends’. I was so proud of them. They’re now more of a phenomenon with their friends. Their school used to have a big picture of them in biology class. No one could understand or believe it.”
The girls have always been close. Hayleigh said, “At primary school, all I wanted to do was be with my sister. We would share clothes, toys and have the same interest in TV and books and stuff. We were like celebrities when we were kids. Everyone wanted pictures with us and would ask us how it felt to be twins but different. To us it was normal.”
However, they also have unique interests. “We are so the same in some ways. We say the same things at the same time, and finish each other’s sentences. Sometimes I know exactly what she is thinking. But we are different — Hayleigh likes make-up and I like video games and vloggers. She’s not into that,” Lauren explained.
When the girls are apart, they miss each other dearly. Hayleigh shared: “We’ve always slept in the same room, even on holiday. I hate it when Lauren goes to stay with friends, I can’t sleep without her. She’s messy as anything though and I’m always tidying up after her. I’m a bit more maternal.”
Sadly, they have to spend more time apart while Hayleigh is at school. Lauren said, “Hayleigh is hoping to go to university next year and I’m not. That’s going to be huge, me not having her there. It’s going to be so weird but I’ll go and see her loads.”
The younger set of twins really looks up to their older sisters. Leah said, “Lauren and Hayleigh are my heroes. I like my older sisters. We want to be like them when we get grown-up.”
Miya added: “Lauren and Hayleigh are the best. They teach me that it’s the best thing in the world to have a twin sister, even if you are not identical.”