Miraculous Blessings: The Remarkable Tale of a Family’s Rare Black-and-White Twins, Recurring Seven Years Later

It’s amazing to see the Durrant family as a whole; they are a remarkable family of six who have overcome some fairly incredible obstacles.

When Dean Durrant and Alison Spooner had their first set of twins in 2001, everyone was immediately entranced.

Hampshire, England-born twin sisters Hayleigh and Lauren Durrant, who have different skin tones, were born in 2001. While the black twin resembled their father, the white twin was more like their mother.

When Alison and Dean first found out they were having twins, they assumed the kids would be just like them. However, after Laura and Hayleigh were born in 2001, Alison’s parents got a surprise.

Laura had received her mother’s light skin, blue eyes, and red hair, unlike her twin sister who mostly resembled her father.

Of course, Alison and Dean’s family and friends were in disbelief. Although the event is incredibly rare, it does occasionally happen.

Growing up wasn’t always easy as their parents had to field questions about how this could have happened and comments of disbelief, and then the girls would face questions from their friends at school.

On the twins’ 18th birthday in 2019, Hayleigh, who has dark skin and hair like her dad Dean, spoke exclusively saying they weren’t always accepted.

“Some people can be really rude. They’ll say, ‘You’re lying, you aren’t twins – prove it!’ So we’ll reel off the same address or pull our passports out. It’s nice to see the shock on people’s faces.

“When we went to college it was difficult because there were lots of groups of Asian, white and black kids. The black group were trying to integrate me and I was like, ‘This is my white twin sister.’ No one could believe it. People look at us like it’s some kind of miracle. I’m still amazed that we are twins.”

Meanwhile, Lauren, who has her mother’s green eyes and fair hair, said, “People just assume we’re best friends rather than sisters, let alone twins.

“I’m happy with that because she is my best friend.”

For a biracial couple expecting twins, there is about a 1 in 500 chance those twins will have different skin colors, according to the BBC.