Sixteen-year-old identical twins Taylor and Tricia are caught in a cycle of bingeing and purging that their parents say has caused each of the girls to drop from 130 lbs. to just under 80 lbs. in only a year. Both girls have experienced serious health scares, and their parents say if the sisters don’t get help soon, they fear their twins could die before the year is out.
Taylor and Tricia admit they are anorexic and bulimic. The twins say they have to do everything in their shared eating disorder the same so that they can maintain their mirror identities. “Our goal as twins is to look identical, so we don’t have people saying ‘Oh, you’re the bigger twin,” says Taylor.
Privately, Tricia confesses she sometimes secretly eats less than her sister, so Taylor doesn’t become the smaller twin. “I get jealous when Taylor tells me that she lost a few pounds, and then I see that I didn’t, or that I gained weight. It makes me feel bad about myself.”
In the video above, Taylor and Tricia’s daily rituals are chronicled. The twins share how they plan their food binges and reveal intimate details about how they feel about their common eating disorder, and themselves.
Sometimes we feel like we are alone,” says Taylor. “People are mean about it.”
“They feel as if we do this for attention,” continues Tricia. “What do you say back to that? It’s, like, I don’t do it for attention. I do it because my mind’s messed up.”
Are Taylor and Tricia ready to accept help for the eating disorders that are ruining their health and threatening their lives? Watch more Wednesday on Dr. Phil. Check local listings here.