Barbara Oliver has had an intriguing relationship with her identical twin sister, Christine, over the decades. Throughout their childhoods, they were effectively treated as two versions of the one person: they were dressed in exactly the same manner and were given the same hairstyles. "Our parents did everything to stress how similar we were," Barbara recalls.
But when Barbara and Christine reached adolescence in the '60s, the pattern changed. The girls could choose their own clothes and adopted very different fashions. "I wore short skirts. Christine had longer dresses and jackets," says Barbara. At the same time, differences in their personalities became more apparent. "Christine is more conscientious about what she does. I am more confident. That became increasingly obvious as the years went by," says Barbara.
Christine agrees. "I am more self-conscious and I suffer from serious depression. There is no sign of that in Barbara. We may be identical twins but we are very different in many ways."
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