Twin Sisters Develop Different Skin Tones – Years Later Teachers Tell Mom They Can't Fathom They’re Related
May 15, 2020 by apost team
When Amanda Biggs gave birth to fraternal twin girls, her daughters looked identical. Over the next few months, the twins underwent a series of changes that left their parents shocked. Marcia and Millie Biggs are now 13 years old, and their unique appearances often cause strangers to question if they're actually twins.
Michael and Amanda Biggs are a biracial couple from Birmingham, England. In 2006, they welcomed twin girls into the world. At first, the twins looked so much alike that the couple had trouble telling them apart.
At around 10 months old, the Biggs family noticed that Millie's skin was turning darker. Her hair started to grow in thicker and darker as well. Amanda and Michael thought that Marcia would soon follow suit. Instead, Marcia's skin lightened, her hair grew in blonde and even her eyes changed color.
"The change happened with Millie first. She went darker and darker," the girls' father, Michael Biggs, told Good Morning America.
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How can two twins look so different? Millie and Marcia are fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are conceived when a mother releases two eggs during the same cycle. Two different sperm fertilize these eggs. Identical twins are conceived from one egg and one sperm. So, identical twins share 100% of their DNA, but fraternal twins only share 50%.
When a mixed-race couple is expecting fraternal twins, there is a 1-in-500 chance that the twins will have different skin colors.
Millie and Marcia are now 14 years old. The girls have developed their own interests and senses of style, but they are still as close as any other set of twins.
“Marcia is a bit of a tomboy. She loves her gymnastics and prefers the color blue," mom Amanda said. "But Millie is the princess – she loves pink and all things bling. She's a bit like her mother in that way."
When strangers meet Millie and Marcia, they think the girls are best friends pretending to be sisters. Even their teachers found it hard to believe that the girls were related, let alone twins. At the start of every school year, Amanda and Michael let the staff know ahead of time that Millie and Marcia are fraternal twins, but it hasn't stopped other parents from asking about their daughters. The Biggs family doesn't mind the questions. They think it's an amazing opportunity to educate the world about genetics and race.
In 2018, the twins were featured on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. Marcia told Good Morning America that she felt proud to see their faces on the cover of a magazine. Millie added that the girls like being different, and she explained that she wants the world to judge her by who she is, not by the color of her skin.
Michael Biggs loves the fact that his daughters learned not to see things in black and white at such a young age. He hopes the rest of the world can adopt a similar view.
Twins with different skin tones are incredibly rare, but it does happen. In 2018, Whitney Meyer and Tomas Dean announced the birth of their twin girls. Jarani and Kalani Dean are fraternal twins that were born with drastically different skin tones. Much like Millie and Marcia, Jarani and Kalani look less like twins with each day that passes.
Isn't genetics amazing? Have any of your relatives surprised your family with a unique genetic trait? Tell us about in the comments!