Fave Magazine 1968
It's Tough Being A TwinCan you imagine living in your own shadow ? Or even living with a carbon copy of yourself ? Ask Maurice and Robin—the Gibb twins—how they like it and both will give you a long, loud groan.
First of all, nothing irritates a twin more than just that— being referred to as "the twin." When Maurice and Robin were small, they dressed alike, went places together and were called "the Gibb twins." They wonder how they got through those years without developing a classic case of split personality one personality split between the two of them.
EQUAL ATTENTION
From the cradle, Maurice and Robin got the same amount of attention, the same clothes, the same toys and the same everything until today, they have rebelled and are as drastically different as they could possibly ever become.
As kids in Australia, they shared the front bedroom in the Gibb home where they had identical belongings. In fact, they were so much alike that when they were about 13 years old, two 16 year old girls couldn't decide which twin they preferred so they waited until about midnight one summer evening and climbed in the window of Robin and Maurice's bedroom to get to know them a little better! (The boys didn't like the idea, by the way, woke up and started screaming until their father chased the girls away.)
TOGETHER CONSTANTLY
Today, there's a theory, especially in American schools, that twins should be separated as much as possible, go to different classrooms and develop separate sets of friends. Maurice and Robin were born too soon to get in on this idea and spent almost all their time together. Double this with the fact that they were entertainers and had to work and practice together too and you'll get an idea of how much alike they had become, simply because they were together so much. However, when the Bee Gees left Australia and moved to England, Maurice and Robin began to drift apart—and neither one of them regret it. They had literally gotten sick of each other, quite understandably when you think of it.
DRASTIC CHANGES
First of all, they quit dressing alike. Robin went for velvets and ruffles, Maurice went for more tailored clothes and darker colors. Then they developed different hobbies. While Maurice lives and breathes stereo and hi fi equipment, Robin owns only a simple record player which doesn't even have an exterior speaker.
Maurice also became the swinger of the two. He catches shows at all the London clubs and usually stays out on the town, even when the guys are travelling. Robin, on the other hand, stays home most of the time and considers himself a loner. He reads and writes songs and has very few friends—at least, not the kind who drop in for a fast party.
MO IS OUTGOING
Maurice is gregarious, friendly, relatively easy to get to know and he has tons of people always stopping in on him to talk or listen to records. Maurice also cruises around London with Paul McCartney and visits Donovan regularly. Robin stays to himself.
If you sat Robin or Maurice down in a chair and gave them each 30 minutes to talk about their lives as twins, they'd fill at least 25 minutes with unfavorable comments. It's not so much that they don't like each other—it's just that they don't like the idea of always being in someone's shadow.
When you have to split attention, belongings or success with someone you've been with almost all your life, you get very defensive about your own identity. You go to all extremes to become your own person, not a twin.
DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES
Robin and Maurice are still fighting the battle of each other —trying to erase the influence that each had on the other. They are becoming so different that pretty soon—if not already— you'll never believe that they are actually twins. Would you believe it now, if someone showed you separate pictures of each of them ?
Probably not. And the old story about how the ideal match for twin guys would be twin girls is a lot of hogwash, according to both Maurice and Robin. You can bet they probably prefer to date sisterless girls. Can you imagine dating another shadow?
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