Photo Sharing
When Clementina Shipley shared her twins' photos on social media, she expected family and friends' usual feedback.
After all, she was happy to show off her adorable new family additions. However, she never expected the reaction she would get.
The Girls
Clementina began posting photos of the girls on their Instagram account: littlestronggirls. The account showed twins, Isabella and Gabriella, two adorable fraternal sisters with completely different skin tones!
The girls quickly became a viral sensation.
Posts
When you look at the adorable, curly-haired, doe-eyed babies, you could instantly see why they would garner so much attention!
Who could resist these cute little faces? And while the sisters may resemble one another, it is their complexion that has been turning heads.
A Mother's Word
Clementine Shipley was interviewed by Essence magazine about her adorable twins. She was happy to speak out about how quickly the girls became an Internet sensation, and she was quite joyful about people’s responses.
“_We have received a ton of love from our posts_,” the twins’ mother, Clementine Shipley, told Essence. You won’t believe how much the account has grown!
The Instagram Account
The girls became popular thanks to Instagram, where their mother began uploading photos of the two seven-month-old twins.
The account has racked up a follower count of 64.2K. While most of the feedback has been positive, there have been some negative comments that Clementine has worked hard to overcome.
Negative Comments
While most of the comments are positive, with people sending their love and good wishes to the girls, there are still those who have tried to rain on their parade.
Clementine began to notice that some commenters began to focus on the fact that one of the girls was much lighter in skin color than the other.
The Feedback
“_From time to time, we’ve run into negative comments about Gabriella’s color, if she’s loved and if she considered beautiful because of her darker complexion_,” Clementine said.
However, Clementine does not let the negative comments bring her or her daughters down.
Parenting
Clementine spoke out, saying that she and her husband have been discussing ways to make sure that both of their daughters grow up comfortable in their own skin – no matter what shade.
Their goal is to raise daughters that will be happy and confident. They also say that there’s a bigger difference between the girls than just their skin color.
Differences
“_Isabella is a calm baby and super laid back. She giggles whenever you stare at her and loves to be tickled. Gabriella started crawling at 5 months as has not stopped moving since. She a smiling ball of energy and loves to snuggle_,” Shipley told Essence of the 7-month-olds.
But this isn’t the only misconception about the twins!
Ethnicity Questions
“_Also some people think they must be mixed, but they are African-American, gray eyes run in our family, so two of our three children have them, once again showing how amazing African-American genes are_,” Clementine told Essence.
And their twin isn’t the only child of theirs with gray eyes!
The Older Sister
The couple also has another gorgeous daughter named Angelina, and she is just as cute as you might imagine.
Clementine has had a lot to say about Angelina and how she has been dealing with the responsibility of being an older sister.
Big Sister
“_Our oldest Angelina is doing great as a big sister. From the day she met the twins, she wanted to hold and hug them_,” Shipley said of the 2-year-old. Take a look at this cutie’s adorable smile.
But this set of twins isn’t the only ones that have managed to make headlines over the years! Check out the world’s first set of twins born with different skin colors!
Biracial Twins
Lucy and Maria Aylmer were born in Gloucester, England, on January 16, 1997. The sisters were a set of fraternal twins; however, they were no ordinary twins.
The girls were born looking completely different from one another!
Their Parents
The girl’s father, Vince, is a Caucasian man while their mother, Donna, is half Jamaican. In turn, these two fraternal twins gathered completely different traits from both of their parents and came out looking incredibly unique!
Check out the girls as they’ve aged through the years.
Serious Differences
On the left is redheaded blue-green eyed Lucy and on the right is dark brown-eyed, thick curly haired Maria. The girls look absolutely nothing alike, and yet they shared a womb.
Just check out what Lucy had to say about her and her sister’s complexions.
Lucy's Words
“_Our brothers and sisters have a skin which is in between Maria and I_,” said Lucy to Daily Mail.
“_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_.”
Weird Reactions
Just like the Shipley twins, people’s reactions were quite mixed. Many people couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that the girls are fraternal twins. When their mother would dress them up in matching outfits, they would often get odd stares…
The girls even dealt with bullying.
Bullying
Maria recounted her hatred of her hair growing up, stating, “_I used to cry about it. I hated my curly hair_.” Lucy struggled with her own fair complexion, expressing that, “_They thought I was adopted and called me a ghost_.”
However, these days the girls have grown up and have embraced their unique looks and styles.
Close Bond
Despite being so different personality-wise and style-wise, the girls have grown into their own skin. They share a very close bond and consider each other best friends.
They explained, “_Now we have grown older, even though we still look so different, the bond between us is much stronger_.”
Amazing Twins
It is truly an amazing phenomenon that twins can look just so similar and still be so unique.
We look forward to seeing how the Shipley twins grow up and are amazed by the Aylmer twin’s transformation throughout the years.