The Barbi Twins are probably the most famous identical twins on the planet, but these gorgeous babes are giving back with their passion for animal rights and making waves all the way to Washington DC. See why and how these beauties are making a big difference in so many helpless animal's lives.You both are vegans and activists on animal rights. I love that you have taken some of you issues all the way to Washington to fight for our little furry creatures. Tell us how that came about?
In order to make a difference as any activists, you have to get involved hands on with the big and small picture. That includes doing everything from Trap/Neuter/Return with feral cats, volunteering at the shelters, and also bringing media attention to important but obscure animal fundraisers or to help vote for bills to help fight abuse or injustice to animals.
Lobbyist have warned us that petitions can actually hurt campaigning for a bill, because instead of writing or calling your reps to support important bill, they think a silly petition that goes nowhere usually is enough. That's why we campaign or help lobby important bills. So rather than get a good press op with a glitzy popular animal org that does nothing but self promote, we support the grassroot organizations that actually walk and write the animal bills in DC, like Animal Welfare Institute. Or we support Paw Project and Sea Shepherd, that fight for the injustice to animals/sealife and oceans. And we support no kill leaders like Nathan Winograd and Stray Cat Alliance rather than the big popular organizations that are pro kill.
You both suffered from bulimia, how did you overcome that battle?
Once a pig, always a pig......no offense to pigs, I love them, but alive of course. You are never "cured" of an eating disorder anymore than you are cured of alcoholism. Your recovery is contingent on how proactive you are with your recovery. That is why contribution is so important, it's a huge part of recovery, to get out of the self absorbed disease and help TRUE victims. Contribution or giving back is also an exercise in gratitude.
You are also authors of health, did your bulimia lead you to help others with your story?
Honestly, I was first researching how to find the perfect diet that I could eat what I want and never gain weight. Then we became fascinated in health, and eventually we learned that a fit body will be the byproduct of good health. You can't cheat or buy health. You have to build your health, just like building a cell. We were the first to "out" ourselves with eating disorders.
We knew that creating a vision of a "pin-up" throwing up was career suicide. But only in rigorous honesty about our shortcomings could we go through the arches of recovery rather than fame. With our little bit of infamy, it seemed only right to use that podium to help others with eating disorders. The reward is finding peace rather than fame, which is as unfulfilled as an eating disorder.
You guys are probably the most marketed identical twins out there, with tons of merchandise, is there a favorite?
Every store seemed to carry some type of Barbi Twins merchandise, anything from key chains to gift cards the actual size of us. Walking into a store filled with our merchandise was like walking into an Amusement Mirror Fun House. Honestly you feel like you are being "punked" when you see yourself on everything from gag gifts to toilet paper. We had our Barbi Twins' images on Russian stamps. I love seeing our posters in movies like "Team America". People still tell us that our postcards are at airports around the world. The funniest is when I was watching a Lifetime movie about teen porn, and the mom was devastated that her son had Barbi Twins calendars, lol. But of course our favorite has to be our comic book. We became good friend with Stan Lee who helped us get not only a comic book but the first ever comic book calendar!
I know how passionate you are about animal rights, what else can we expect from the Barbi twins in the future?
We have always loved animals and wanted to be veternarians from the beginning. Modeling was a means so we could afford to keep horses and to hide our eating disorder. Sports was our "high", so health and fitness became our lifestyle.
Recently, we have also incorporated political satire, with a disclaimer that we are "blonde", so please don't take us too seriously. We support the 99%....the animals! Our idea of the Green Tea Party, is less government, more charity for animals and conservation. So of course we support our troops for risking their lives for our freedom of speech.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-k-smith/barbi-twins-animal-rescue_b_2025727.html
I’ve always admired that you are not only gorgeous, but smart and not afraid to speak your mind, thank you for sharing.
Thank you. We learned that you can either be popular......or true to yourself. And doing the right thing, can be very lonely at times.
We are new animal editors in the highly acclaimed pop culture green magazine "Origin". We want to promote "One Act of Kindness", because all of us are capable of making a difference rather than making an impression.
