How Anorexia Tore Apart Identical Twins: A Tragic Tale | Real Stories Full-Length Documentary

This fascinating documentary follows 35-year-old Dutch identical twins Lisbeth and Angelique as they wrestle with their love / hate relationship and extreme dependence on each other. Both sisters have anorexia and their struggles with food are agonising to watch. They visit anorexia and twin specialist Janet Treasure in London and at the end of the programme Angelique (the twin most badly affected by anorexia) embarks on a hospital programme. For anyone intersted in the darker side of identical twins this programme will make compelling viewing.

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[relentless]

As a former anorexic having had a decade of treatment, these two girls need to be as far from each other as possible in order to be healthy. They need completely separate lives.

[spieterman]

Update: since I’m also Dutch I looked them up & it seems like they have a more healthy relationship now. They don’t live together anymore & Liesbeth has a child.

[DiZoSoMom]

The way they bash the other twins for dressing the same and call them “pathetic” and then sit and divide their food in identical pieces… it just shows how far from our perspective of reality they really live. Delusional.

[p-h-a-n-t-o-m]

i’ve never seen two people who despise each other so much be so codependent

[monicasanfillipo]

My husband is an identical twin, I believe when they are young children they need to be able to establish their own identity. My husband's mother had put them in grade school in separate classes just so they can learn their own independence

[gabe-poyi]

The food ritual is one of the most pathological things I’ve ever seen. Truly unsettling.

[sarahewson]

Seeing them at the twins convention was very sad. I definitely feel this has roots in their childhood. There’s no excuse for how she ridiculed the twins for dressing the same though. It angered me, but it does show how they despise being twins.

[deactivated]

This is like having the mean voice in your head become physical

[TheRosenstand]

This is by far the worst case of pathological symbiosis I have ever come across. Watching this documentary at times almost made me feel sick to my stomach.

[moniquevanleeuwen]

The way they react to other twins being happy is so sick and disturbing.

[myriaml]

I thought it was really rude to call those other twins circus freaks or pathetic

[mollyh]

This is honestly one of the most severe and bizarre forms of OCD I've ever seen. Their need to control everything is strange. They're both in need of intense life.

[badrabbitt]

Listening to them argue is tortuous. The whining is like toddlers is ridiculous. I imagine it’s hard for them to find friends as well. I really hope they separated, went to therapy, and expanded their horizons. This is just sad.

[echavez]

I’m an identical twin too, and I know for many this documentary and these sister’s behaviors are hard to understand, but I can, in a way see myself in them in some sense. My parents raised my sister and I very dependent of each other. We dressed the same, went to the same school, had the same friends, shared the same room, etc. We first started taking separate classes during our second year of college. It was so hard!We would cried or feel insecure when we were apart, even when we were already adults. I didn’t know how to make even the simplest decisions on my own. Making friends was just very hard. Now we’re better, but it’s taken a lot of work and therapy. Twins are individuals, so if you’re reading this and have twins, treat them as individuals from the beginning. We allowed our family to call us twins, instead of our names, and we have never called each other by our names. I just call her sister. Don’t let that happen to your kids. I love my sister to pieces, but I wish I could have discover myself and my own identity from earlier in life.

[Sharon_L_W]

This is a heartbreaking example of toxic codependency. It’s like drug addicted partners.. you feel safety and comfort with only your partner, because you’re both deeply entrenched in the same disease that isolates you from the rest of the world. You end up sharing an identity that is flawed.

I’m a recovering anorexic and can’t imagine the added torture of having a bond so close with someone that it becomes a rivalry.. the anxieties and obsessiveness is shared and must be equal between you otherwise anxiety is increased and fuels the ED.

They aren’t happy. They’re trapped. I hope they find the strength to seek and stick to recovery.. first step for them is to learn that it’s okay and healthy to want to do something for THEMSELVES - and not feel obligated to do anything based on the other person.

Just as they fuel each other’s illness, they can equally and powerfully fuel each other’s recovery by taking care of themselves as individuals.

You can see how warped the illness has made them by how they judge other twins for dressing the same.. yet they go to further and darker extremes by ensuring they consume the same, exercise the same, treat their bodies the same.. in a destructive way. The other twins aren’t ruled by their outfits - yet these twins are ruled by their own obsession. Anorexia is a mind altering death trap.

[naboegrainger]

Sadly, their lives are no different than that of people with a debilitating substance abuse. They're so isolated and lonely. My heart goes out to them

[xxcobu]

Anyone wonder if Lisbeth's internet boyfriend was really "sick" and died or if they just wanted out of the "relationship"? It just seems weird to me that someone that I am assuming claimed they were family or a friend was like "oh they are in a coma", "oh by the way they died and there is no body or grave for you to visit as proof". This person would have had to know the importance of their connection to reach out to her in the first place, so I can't imagine why someone wouldn't tell someone's partner when to come for the memorial.

[yam-wu]

watching them at the twin festival makes me feel sad for them. you can tell they feel a superiority complex with all those other twins and are just miserable that other twins can live healthy, happy lives when they don't.

[vetinaalvarez]

They are trying so hard to save and love each other but they are truly killing each other!!!!

[anitatencer]

They enable each other's illness. They need to separate.