The transgender twins are already fashion’s hottest names (Picture: Supplied)
Maddie and Margo Whitley are two of fashion’s hottest new names.
They’ve walked at London and New York fashion week and are among their agency’s most booked models. They’ve starred in campaigns for Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs and are now living the dream in New York.
They’ve come a long way from their difficult upbringing in Texas but this is very far from your typical rags to riches story. Born as boys, they transitioned as teens and fought prejudice to rise to the top of the fashion world.
‘Growing up, we dreamed of being Barbie,’ says Maddie.
‘Now,’ says Margo, ‘we want to be the first trans twins on the cover of Vogue.’
It would be the culmination of a quite incredible journey.
‘At school, there were death threats, name-calling, things were thrown at me,’ says Margo. ‘There was harassment in the hallways. But the things that really get you are the rumours; the whispers, the things you hear being said about you. That was way more harmful.
The pair identified as female as soon as they could talk (Picture: Supplied)
‘It was very rough to come out and try and live your truth in school. It wasn’t accepting. There was a big community of anti-trans people. But I’ve learned and healed. I’ve forgiven those people. They didn’t know. They were kids. There is an education that needed to happen. But yeah, it was bad.’
The 22-year-olds were black sheep at the all-boys Catholic school they attended in Texas. ‘We were heavily bullied,’ says Maddie. ‘We were not popular. We were not the cool kids. We were the ones that even the “losers” made fun of.’
Born in Houston, the pair identified as female as soon as they could talk. They put on dresses, played Barbies and told people they were girls.
Sharing their lives online, the twins have been a hit on TikTok where they collectively have more than 430,000 followers and millions of likes.
Maddie came out as trans to her family at 13 and Margo the following year.
‘Certain members of the family were more accepting than others,’ says Maddie.
TikTok famous: the twins have amassed a following of more than 430,000 (Picture: Supplied)
‘Almost everybody has to come around now due to education and time. But at the time there were mixed reactions.
‘The most positive response came from our mother, Elaine. She was immediately so cool about it. She didn’t understand much about the idea of transgender at the time. She said, “I’m not entirely educated on this, but I want you to know that I love you no matter what, we’re gonna get through this together. I’m your mother and I’m going to help you in any way I can.”
‘They were just the perfect words that I needed to hear at the time.
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‘Coming out was hard. Living in Texas as a trans teen was very difficult for my sister and I. We were surrounded by a lot of extremely close-minded people who did not want to learn, and thought we were very gross monsters.
‘Whatever. These “gross monsters” are now doing the advertising campaigns they see in the grocery store.’
The day they graduated from high school at 18, they packed their bags and left for New York, which felt like ‘a breath of fresh air,’ remembers Maddie.
The sisters can count Marc Jacobs amongst one of their major campaigns (Picture: Supplied)
They each had $1,000 in their bank accounts and shared a cramped foldaway bed in an apartment. They say they knew they had to make it or move back home.
‘We had been the only trans kids in our friendship circle,’ says Maddie. ‘We had never met any other trans kids organically. But there were people like us in New York. It was really cool to be able to see so many proudly queer people, to open our horizons and meet different people from different walks of life. I remember walking out of the house with a lot less fear.’
In February 2020 they were signed by John Bruce at London model agency PRM, and they are represented in the US, France, Italy and Spain. But it was when Covid hit and they took to TikTok that they suddenly became accidental role models to a generation of gender fluid fans.
‘We’re not being role models in any other way than just living our lives and setting an example that way,’ says Margo. ‘To have people come to us and tell us we inspired them to come out feels really good. It feels very powerful to be able to influence and help others see their truth. It’s been really fun.’
They still receive online hate, but nothing they can’t deal with, according to Maddie. She says: ‘As a trans person today, and especially as a trans model, that skin needs to be thick and you cannot take anything personally.
‘Anybody saying anything negative is just projecting. It just rolls off your back.’
Dreaming big: the twins want to be the first trans pair on the cover of Vogue (Picture: Supplied)
Ariel Nicholson was the first trans model on the cover of Vogue but the girls want to make history by being the first trans pair to front the fashion bible – it would be a dream come true for the twins who didn’t dare imagine a modelling career when they were little.
As Margo puts it: ‘As children, the only thing we were busy dreaming about was being women, let alone what we were going to do as women.’
Now, having given hope to millions of teens around the world, they have the world at their perfectly manicured feet.
This is far from your typical rags to riches story.