Reality TV Star Brothers Found Dead in Apparent Double Suicide
Twin brothers who starred in the British version of the TLC show “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” are dead in a case that media accounts are labeling a double suicide.
Bill and Joe Smith, 32, were found hanged in Sevenoaks, England, TMZ and The Sun reported.
Phoebe Charleen Smith, the twins’ cousin, said Joe was recently diagnosed with cancer, according to The Telegram.
“Joey had cancer, and Billy told him ‘I’d never be able to live without you,’” she said.
“Joey told the family he got the all-clear after chemo two months ago, but we don’t know if that’s true now,” she said.
‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ twins made suicide pact after one brother’s cancer diagnosis https://t.co/NAbpOzEG4b pic.twitter.com/o1V42JUp1M
— Page Six (@PageSix) December 30, 2019
Smith said the brothers had left their family a message.
“They went missing, and Joey’s phone was turned off. Then we found a note. It said that they wanted it like this, and we would find them in the woods where they played with the family years ago. My uncle ran up there and found them,” she said.
“They couldn’t live without each other, and the stars belong to the sky,” she said, adding that the twins were “loved by everyone.”
After their run on “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings” came to a close, the twins operated a landscaping business together.
Identical twins & joint suicide!? Lord, protect those who need your strength. What a tragedy.
— Liz ???? (@InTheEyesOfLiz) December 29, 2019
Kristina Delaney of Cheltenham, who identified herself as Bill’s partner, wrote on Facebook, “Hardest day of my life. RIP my perfect Bill you were so pure so lovely.
“You made me the happiest girl. Did everything for me showed me love i never had you always see stuff like this but you just never think it’ll happen to you. I can’t believe I have to type this together struggling to speak never mind put a sentence together, I’m gonna make you so so proud my bill, my life, my angel,” she wrote.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2244122239221714&id=100008718784067
Paddy Doherty, who also starred on the documentary show that ran from 2011 to 2015 on Britain’s Channel 4, called the news a “terrible, terrible tragedy.”
“I’m very sorry for their troubles from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “May God look after them, may God have mercy on them, they are two angels, harmless, they were unbelievable.”
My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Paddy Doherty shares heartbreaking tribute to ‘angel’ twins found dead in Kent https://t.co/aeJHAWSnDJ pic.twitter.com/UVH8cZvhls
— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) December 29, 2019
Jane Chippendale said Bill and Joe, who had two children, recently stayed at her home in Tunbridge Wells, according to The Mirror.
“I’m still in shock. It doesn’t make sense. Their clothes are hanging up in my wash room. They were like sons when they were here,” she said.
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