Jennifer Wilson and Kathleen Millns, the first twins to be reunited on ITV's Long Lost Family, say their lives finally feel complete after meeting 66 years after being separated as babies. The sisters discovered they had been living just three miles apart in the same town they grew up in, even sharing the same doctor and dentist, and their children attended the same school.
Their story was featured in the opening episode of the ancestry show in 2011. Eight years later, they have become inseparable, with a strong 'twin telepathy'. For their 76th birthday in August, they bought each other the same jumper from the same shop without consulting one another.
Kathleen said: 'I gave Jennifer the bag with the present in, she gave me the bag with mine. She pulled hers out first and started laughing and I pulled mine out and started laughing. They were both exactly the same from the same place.'
Jennifer had been told about her twin by relatives when she was a teenager and dreamed of meeting her. She said: 'The first thing I said to Kath was, “Oh I have missed you” even though I didn’t know her. We just clicked straight away, as though we’d never been parted.'
The twins' bond strengthened after Jennifer's husband Howard died of sepsis in April. Kathleen stepped in to accompany Jennifer on a Mediterranean cruise that they had originally booked together. Jennifer took a small pot of Howard's ashes with her, saying: 'I took Howard with me! He’s been all over.'
The sisters meet every Wednesday at Marks & Spencer for coffee and cake, and enjoy people-watching. They were separated as babies because their biological mother Eva did not have space for twins in her small house. Jennifer was raised by Eva's neighbour, keeping close contact with her 'auntie Eva' throughout her life.
