Identical twin sisters Katey Bennett and Amanda Dunford finally reunite on Megyn Kelly TODAY after being separated for more than 30 years.
The two discovered their connection after they both decided to check and see if they had any other close relatives through DNA testing.
Dunford submitted her DNA test in 2013. But, unfortunately, the only close connection she discovered at the time was a distant fourth cousin, according to TODAY.
Things took a turn for the better earlier this year when Bennett had a hunch that she might have a twin that her parents don’t know about.
Bennett and her parents approached 23andMe to get a DNA test, putting joy in the 33-year-old’s life after a direct match was found.
“It said, ‘You have one direct relative that’s taken this test,’ and it gave me Amanda’s name and said ‘identical twin sister,’” Bennett said.
Her parents were quite ecstatic about learning that Bennett really had a twin sister.
“My mom started crying, and she said, ‘I have another daughter!’” she said.
The twin sisters were reportedly separated at birth in South Korea. Bennett, who is now living in California, was adopted by her parents from a South Korean orphanage.
Dunford, who grew up in Arizona but is now living in Virginia, wasn’t adopted until she was about a year old. Before she was adopted, Dunford used to live at the home of a South Korean street vendor, where she would often be kept tied to a pole to prevent her from wandering off.
Unlike Bennett, Dunford’s parents already knew that the girl had a twin sister, but they were informed then that she was already adopted by another family.
Upon learning that she had a twin sister, Bennett immediately took to social media to do her own search for her long-lost sister. She went through several photos of someone who looked exactly like her, but living a completely different life with a different set of friends.
“It was surreal. Can you imagine, seeing these pictures with people who you have no idea who they are, and feeling like you should have these memories that are on film that you just don’t have? And you can’t muster them up, because you really don’t know these people, but it’s you in this picture,” Bennett said.
The two sisters soon connected on a video call via FaceTime. Dunford, who described the experience as “eerie,” couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“I felt like I was talking to myself the entire time. It was just a very surreal experience,” she said.
Both sisters have quirky similarities, which Bennett dubbed as their “OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) tendencies.”
“I can’t have my volume on an odd number. It has to be an even number, But when I go to the public restroom and I get paper towels, three. It has to be three — and she’s the same way,” Dunford explained.
The DNA test confirms Bennett and Dunford are indeed identical twins, but the pair have different birthdays recorded on their birth certificates. Bennett’s certificate states she was born on Dec. 25, 1983, while Dunford was born on Jan. 13, 1984.
Besides meeting her long-lost twin sister, Bennett also got acquainted with a new family member in her life —her nephew and Dunford’s 6-year-old son Patrick.
Meanwhile, another very emotional reunion happened earlier this year when twin sisters Gracie and Audrey met for the very first time since they were separated at birth in China.
Featured Image Screenshot via YouTube / TODAY
