Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited

by Anais Bordier

  Anaïs, Sam, and Sam’s foster mother

  Anaïs and Sam on their twenty-sixth birthday

  Anaïs and Sam in Montmartre

  The Futermans and Bordiers during Thanksgiving

  acknowledgments

  From Samantha:

  To my documentary team—Kanoa Goo, Ryan Miyamoto, Lisa Arendarski, Eileen DeNobile, Michael Allen, Yamato Cibulka, Tomas Yoo, Marie Roullion, Jenna Ushkowitz, Jeff Consiglio, Dan Matthews, Steve Brown—thank you for sticking by my side, challenging me, always believing in me and being part of this insane adventure.

  Kanoa Goo, you have kept me grounded through every crazy moment. Thank you.

  Ryan Miyamoto, thank you for sharing my journey and giving me endless support. You are completely irreplaceable. I will always love you.

  Lisa Arendarski, thank you for being my support from accounting to vacuuming and everything in between. You keep my head above water.

  Scott Moore, Kelsang Dorjee Dongsar, James Yi, Justin Chon, Relativity Media, Lauren Arps, Kevin Wu: Without you guys, I would have never met my sister. The universe brought us together, and now I know why.

  Ben Sommers, Shinhye Kang, SooJoo Kim, and Sue Jeong: The amount of information you have been able to uncover and the amount of support you provide is life-changing.

  Eileen De Nobile: Thank you for protecting me throughout all these years and always sticking by my side. You have nurtured my talents from the beginning and are a huge part of who I am today.

  To my foster mom, Shin Ja Kim: Thank you for nurturing me at my first and most crucial moments. Without you, I would have never had the strength or nourishment I needed in order to survive.

  Mom and Dad: I love you a billion times. I would have nothing without you. Mom, you are my hero. Your encouragement and love give me the strength to be where I am today. Thank you for holding my hand, picking the carrots out of my soup, and making my dreams possible. Dad, you have taught me to be the determined woman I am today and to go above and beyond for my family. Thank you for always believing in me and allowing me to know that I can be whatever I want to be in this world.

  Matt and Andrew: You are my protectors and my best friends, through all those years of video games, stickball in the streets, crammed car rides to Maine, and collectively making fun of our parents. You are both annoying as crap, but you are the best big brothers a girl could ever ask for. I love you.

  Grandma, Uncle Bob, Aunt Jo, Jill, Jonathon, Jesse, Tom, Uncle Chic, Aunt Nancy, Laura, Cindy, Richard, Uncle Danny, Aunt Joanne, Rachel, Max, and my big brother Jeremy: Thank you for making me the crazy person I am today. I love you all. I would have never been outgoing enough to put myself on YouTube without all those years of being forced to sing the Chanukah song.

  Patricia and Jacques: You have helped me further understand the meaning of love by accepting me into your family. Thank you for loving my sister. I love you, and I look forward to our endless dinners of foie gras, wine, and dessert, together as family.

  To my sister: I have always thought of every possible event that could occur in my lifetime. Discovering you was something I would have never imagined. It is possible that the universe was guiding us to each other and that we were yearning to be together, but without your courage and willingness to explore the unknown, I may have experienced this life without your existence. If that were the case, then I would have never known what happiness truly means. You have expanded my vision of the world into a place with endless possibilities and you constantly remind me of everything that is good. Whether it is through an embrace, an emoji, or simply just knowing that you are alive in this world, you give me the comfort and the strength to take on any challenge that life may offer. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to truly understand the meaning of life, love, happiness, and family. I am nothing without you. I love you. Pop.

  From Samantha and Anaïs: Steve Ross, Kerri Kolen, Ellen Gilbert, Rachel Altman, Domina Holbeck, Victoria Shaffer, Pamela Fisher, and Eric Suddleson—thank you for being on our team and always supporting our decisions through all this insanity. We couldn’t have asked for a better team.

  Lisa Pulitzer: There are few in this world who will truly understand our experience. You are a kind, inspiring woman. There is no one better in this world to help tell our story. Thank you for becoming part of our family and allowing us to express our ideas to the fullest extent.

  Martha Smith: You and Lisa have been on this project since Day One. Your hard work and dedication are greatly appreciated.

  Dr. Segal: You have given us more than we could have ever asked for. We are eternally grateful for your work conducting our DNA testing and so much more. You have been an incredible resource and friend.

  Spence-Chapin Adoption Services, Holt International Children’s Services, Kickstarter, Good Morning America, Samsung, Facebook Stories, YouTube, and IKAA: You have helped make all of our dreams come true.

  To whoever gave us birth: It takes two, and we’re very glad you both did it. We are happy as ever, thank you.

  To our Kickstarter backers: You made our reunion possible. Your kindness and donations gave us the chance to stand in the same room for the very first time. Thank you for believing in us and being part of our journey.

  From Anaïs:

  To Kelsang Dorjee Dongsar, or the “hand of God”: You will always remain my fashion master, teaching me all your tricks, being a wonderful cook, and taking such good care of me. You are the most generous and selfless person I have ever met, and I will forever be thankful for your YouTube addiction. I love you.

  Marie Rouillon and the amazing Jase Warner, my best friends and flat mates, for their moral support, all the cooking, the cleaning, the music, and wonderful memories of our year sharing a flat. To my two other great flat mates, Rory Crawford and Rafa Villalobos, with his uncanny Internet skills and opera concerts in the shower. And, thank you to my previous flat mates, Mátyás, Patrick, and Oliver.

  To my little brother of the heart, Jonathan Dubreuil, and his mum, Anne: We have known each other since we were kids. You came after work to meet my sister, traveling all the way from the other side of London. I have met amazing people thanks to you, and I will always be here for you, as you have been here for my sister and me.

  And to William van Hinloopen: Although I barely knew you when everything started, you have been here for me since. Thank you for not freaking out on my nail-biting and teeth-grinding. Your daily support on our professional and personal projects means so much to me.

  To Lucas Gloppe, who was with me on the bus when all the elements started mixing and coming together. Maxence Parache for sending the first tweet and attracting my sister’s attention, and Fabienne Fong Yan for being so supportive and patient. This journey would never have started without you and your help.

  Jewon Lee and Jennifer Lee, thank you so much for introducing me to Korean culture, for all the Korean food, all the K-pop songs I discovered, and for making me proud of South Korea.

  Justin Chon and Kevin Wu for being well-known actors and shooting with my sister. Lisa Arendarski, Tomas Yoo, Ryan Miyamoto, Kanoa Goo, James Yi, my sister’s friends, who accepted me and let me enter their lives and were part of our trips. Even if you had not been my sister’s friends, I hope we would have met someday and become friends, because you are gold.

  Anaïs Lelong and Charles Constant for being my older “adopted” sister and brother of the heart.

  To Racines Coréennes, Franck Leroy, and Holt Children’s Services, a huge merci for your help in our search and investigation in Korea.

  Eui-Soo Moon, my foster mum, I am so grateful you took care of me when I was just an infant. You cared and you were obviously one of the first people in my life, and thus you are one of the most important people to me.

  To the whole Futerman family: You are incredible people, you welcomed my parents and me into your home and family, you accepted us, and
we felt like home, even a thousand miles away.

  Jackie and Judd, you have been great parents to my “little” sister. Thanks for accompanying and showing her the way. There are no words to express how happy it makes me to see who she has become thanks to you.

  Andrew and Matt, I am so glad to have two brothers now, and that we are past our teenage years. I hope I will grow to be a nice sister to you both.

  Pépé and Mémé, Gaston Bordier and Madeleine Bordier, you are gone already, but from where you are, you must have watched us. Thank you for giving me a dad, and thanks to Grand-père and Grand-mère, Jacques and Simone Wach, for giving me a mum and a wonderful uncle, Mgr. Gilles Wach.

  Maman and Papa, thanks for being my parents, taking care of me, consoling me, teaching me, feeding me, playing with me, loving me whatever I did. Maman, you have always been understanding. Thanks for leaving your career to be a full-time mum. Papa, thanks for always pushing me further and going beyond my limits and showing me that with goodwill I can do whatever I want. You found the trick to entice me to learn English by putting a Harry Potter book on my bedside table. You have supported my decision to follow my passion to study the arts and to pursue my studies in London, where it changed my life.

  To my sister: I will never know if it was you I was missing when I was a little kid, but all I know is that feeling you are in this world any second makes me the happiest everyday. It comforts me to know we found each other after so many years, and I love to believe we were meant to find each other. I am so thankful for our lives to have suddenly changed like this in ways I could never have even dreamed of. I will remain amazed every day at the fact we randomly fell upon each other via social media, and so thankful for the love it brought to our lives. Your daily joy, enthusiasm, jokes, and messages are a gift every day. I have nothing to fear now since you are here. I love you, my little sister.

  kindred: the foundation for adoption

  Kindred: The Foundation for Adoption is an American foundation established by Samantha Futerman in 2014, after she and Anaïs Bordier discovered that they were identical twins separated at birth. When their reunion garnered worldwide attention, Samantha heard countless stories from fellow adoptees. They were all worth hearing and sharing and they instilled in her a desire to aid adoptees in a myriad of situations.

  Kindred’s initiative is to provide international and domestic adoptees and their families (both adoptive and biological) with services such as travel, translation, and therapy for those who wish to reunite; easily accessible hotlines; introduction to art and encouragement of artistic expression; and programs set in native countries to aid orphans living within the foster care and government systems. No matter how big or small the need, the foundation’s goal is to aid adoptees and their families in finding stability and happiness.

  Love and family is extendable not only to those with whom we share our DNA, but to whomever we choose to accept into our lives.

  For more information on Kindred, visit:

  www.kindredadoption.org

  www.facebook.com/kindredadoption

  www.twitter.com/kindredadoption