Entertainment | Celebrity

The A-list twins you never knew existed

Ashton Kutcher and other celebrities reveal all about their less-talked about twins

By Nyree McFarlane, Deputy Editor, Scene magazine
Published: 20:56 December 5, 2012

Image Credit: Supplied picture
Ashton and Michael Kutcher.

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Kiefer & Rachel Sutherland
We all know the 24 star and his famous dad, Hunger Games actor Donald Sutherland, but a more behind the-scenes family member is Kiefer’s twin, Rachel. Born in London seven minutes after her hard-partying brother, she works as a post-production supervisor. Kiefer has a tendency to terrorise his little sis; “From the age of five I loved to hide behind a chair and scare the **** out of my twin,” he admitted – poor girl.

Ashton and Michael Kutcher
Growing up in a tiny town in Iowa, Ashton became the “protector” of his twin brother early on. “I was the kid with the big Coke-bottle glasses, the hearing aid,” says Ashton’s twin, Michael, who suffers from cerebral palsy. “There was a lot of teasing, the normal mean stuff,” he added. “Looking out for my twin was a big part of my life,” Ashton recently spilled, adding that seeing what Michael had to go through gave him an “understanding of what it’s like to be the other guy”.

Scarlett and Hunter Johansson
Younger than Scarlett by only three minutes, hunky Hunter works for Barack Obama as a campaign organiser in Denver. And friends of Scar’s bro, 27, say he’s “polite” and “wears jeans and a T-shirt off duty and often uses words like ‘dude’ and ‘bro’.” Scarlett credits her brother with helping her get through her divorce, while Hunter says she is his go-to person for girl advice. “She tells me how girls think,” he spilled. “When I’m stuck, I call. She’s set me up on dates. It wasn’t with anybody famous, it was with some school friends – all very beautiful, wonderful girls.”

Aaron and Angel Carter
He was briefly a teen heartthrob, but has since been plagued by reported addiction issues, while she’s a not-sofamous model – the Carters are mostly known because of their big brother, Nick, who was the most crushable Backstreet Boy. Their elder sister, Leslie, tragically passed away in February this year, and this is said to have brought the 24-year-old twins closer together. “There’s definitely a twin connection,” Angel spilled of her friendship with her brother.

Gisele and Patricia Bundchen
Being one of the most beautiful women in the world, it’s surprising to hear that, when growing up, Brazilian supermodel Gisele used to lament the fact that her fraternal twin sister was the “hotter one”. Patricia, who’s seven minutes younger than her leggy sis, used to model, but has since given it up to become Gisele’s manager (and she’s obvs good at her job when you consider Gisele raked in a whopping Dh165 million last year).

Jon and Daniel Heder
Quirky Napoleon Dynamite star Jon grew up in a Mormon family in Oregon with four brothers and sisters, including his twin bro, Dan. The comedian admitted to “messing with” elementary school teachers by pretending to be each other, “In 6th grade, we switched class for an entire day,” the Blades Of Glory star spilled. “His teacher was in on it, but my teacher was an older lady who was a little ‘off’. But we paid the price because my teacher gave the kids a quiz which my brother obviously wasn’t prepared for. But what did it matter to him? It was my records the poor scores were put on to.”

Alanis and Wade Morissette
She’s one of the best-selling female artists of all time (Jagged Little Pill was on loop on our Walkman – yes, remember those?), while he’s a yoga instructor and a musician who specialises in singing in the ancient language of Sanskrit. “It can be a bit daunting to have a twin whose debut album was – and still is – one of the highest selling albums of all time,” Wade recently admitted. “There’s a danger of being overshadowed, and it’s a practice for anyone to hold their own.” But they have a great relationship, and with him living in Vancouver and Alanis in LA, Wade says they “text incessantly”.

Isabella and Isotta Ingrid Rossellini
The daughters of movie icon Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini lead very different lives. Isabella is a renowned actress – and has had a string of famous lovers, from Martin Scorsese to Gary Oldman – while Ingrid is a professor of Italian literature. The 60-year-old sisters had a public rift in 2006 when Isabella created a short film about their father – which, oddly, depicted him as an overweight stomach speaking through its navel. Ingrid said she found it “disrespectful” and “offensive”.

Giovanni and Marissa Ribisi
You may remember Marissa – who’s now a fashion designer – from Friends and Dazed and Confused, while Giovanni is an A-list character actor, starring in Contraband and Ted. The twins are second generation Scientologists, and Marissa is married to another bornin member of the religion, Beck – whose mother in fact delivered the twins (that church def likes keeping it all in the family).

Celebrities and their equally famous twins

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
The most famous twins in the world have been using their pint-sized identikit-ness to their advantage since they were cast in Full House at just six months old, and they have since built up a fortune of Dh1.2 billion.

Tia and Tamera Mowry
They played twins separated at birth in mid-90s sitcom Sister Sister, and now they have their own Style Network show Tia & Tamera, so yeah, they’re pretty much famous because they’re twinsies.

Vivienne and Knox Pitt
The adorably chubby-cheeked twins of Angelina and Brad are growing up in the public eye, and Vivienne’s even landed a small role as a young princess in Jolie’s Sleeping Beauty remake Maleficent.

Benji and Joel Madden
The Good Charlotte musicians have been playing music together since they were 16, but lead vocalist Joel is a bigger star than his drummer bro – mostly thanks to his marriage to Nicole Richie.