Shannon Twins Mirror on Life in Playboy Mansion: ‘We Have been Simply Youngsters’

As soon as the headline-grabbing twins of The Women Subsequent Door, the now 35-year-olds are stepping out of the shadows and dipping their toe again into the highlight after embarking on a brand new, more healthy chapter of their lives outdoors of Hollywood.

In a brand new interview with PEOPLE, the sisters replicate on their wild rise to fame, the trauma that adopted, and the way a cross-country escape helped them discover peace, objective, and their religion once more.

The Shannon Twins’ journey started in small-town Florida, the place they have been raised by their Italian grandmother (“Nonna”) after a rocky childhood. “We got here from a small, poor Italian household,” Kristina explains, including that the sisters don’t affiliate with their mother and father “to at the present time.”

By 16, they have been working at Ker’s WingHouse — a Hooters-style restaurant — the place they turned native stars, touchdown on billboards and calendars.

“That is the place our modeling profession actually began. We labored odd jobs till we have been 16, after we began working there,” Karissa shares, with Kristina calling it their first “centerfold.”

Playboy caught wind of the twins quickly after, when a photographer they’d been working with despatched their footage to the publication.

“The calendar man who was taking pictures all of the Ker’s WingHouse calendars, that photographer was additionally submitting images to Playboy. We have been 17,” Karissa says.

The response was fairly on the spot, with Kristina claiming that Playboy head, Hugh Hefner, was “dying over the images.”

“They stated, ‘He loves you women. You guys are in,'” Karissa remembers.

Their debut made historical past, with Kristina and Karissa the youngest twins, and at the moment, the primary to get their very own month within the Playboy calendar. However behind the scenes, issues weren’t so glamorous.

“We have been actually simply youngsters. We have been all pure. We did not have faux tooth. We did not have faux boobs like the opposite women or faux hair. We simply walked round with pure faces over tan as a result of we have been at all times within the solar in Florida,” Kristina explains.

Bullying, jealousy, and isolation have been the norm, they stated, and even with the additional consideration from Hefner, the ladies had a tough time feeling at house within the mansion.

“Hef would present us particular consideration in comparison with the opposite women,” Karissa recollects. “It made Kristina cry. Kristina actually cried and wished to go away the mansion after we have been taking pictures. And I advised her, ‘These women are older. They know find out how to play the sport higher. However we’re fairly. We’re right here. We have made it this far.’ And so we ended up staying and Kristina acquired via it, however there was a lot bullying.”

Nonetheless, they caught it out — touchdown centerfold shoots, a job on The Women Subsequent Door and extra.

After three years within the Playboy orbit, the cracks began to indicate.

With Karissa noting that Playboy “left an enormous gap in each of our hearts and our spirits,” particularly once they have been stripped of faith and the household at house that grew up with.

The dying of their Nonna and Kristina’s DUI, each in 2014, have been pivotal factors for the pair, shifting their focus to renewing their religion and discovering their method on the planet that began when each Kristina and Karissa turned sad with their our bodies and the life-style decisions they made after leaving the mansion.

“Everybody was saying we have been going via our ‘Anna Nicole section’,” Kristina recollects, referencing the late Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. “We gained weight. There was alcohol and capsules. We have been actually unhealthy and misplaced and, even at factors, suicidal. We had nobody. It was simply us, making an attempt to determine it out after shedding ourselves.”

So, they bought their magnificence salon and made the choice to go away Los Angeles. They first settled in Las Vegas earlier than choice to begin over in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the place they have been born earlier than re-locating to Florida, the place they have been raised by their grandmother.

“We did not know the place to go, so we determined to return to the place we have been born and depart L.A.,” Karissa says. “We bought the wonder salon we owned on the time, and stated, ‘Let’s get the hell out of right here and reside a easy life. Let’s simply begin therapeutic.'”

Again in Ann Arbor, the twins lastly slowed down.

“Being in nature desensitized us. We ended up being identified with manic despair, ADHD, bipolar dysfunction and generalized nervousness dysfunction. Being outdoors town helped us decelerate,” Karissa reveals, explaining the the pair used the transfer to “to seek out out who we’re and simply be egocentric, attempt to reside usually.”

“We have been completely simply able to be egocentric for the primary time. And we have been all about God and praying consistently to Jesus,” she explains. “We have been actually praying and simply making an attempt to vary our lives. And I really feel like that is after we actually grew up.”

Shifting to an natural life-style that included natural meals, merchandise, remedy and self-care, the pair entered their “therapeutic period” which took years however modified them each for good.

“I did not assume we’d ever come out of it. However Michigan modified us,” Kristina provides. “We love being in Michigan after which going to L.A. or Vegas for work.”

After years out of the highlight, the twins say they’re lastly prepared for a return, however this time, on their very own phrases.

“We do love consideration. We love the cameras, not in a imply or narcissistic method. We’re humble, however we like to entertain,” Kristina says. “So we love actuality TV as a result of our persona is form of like individuals can determine with us and we’re actually actual and trustworthy.”

They’re additionally occupied with getting their actual property licenses and opening themselves as much as courting and even the potential for motherhood.

“We actually need to do being pregnant collectively. We need to be housewives, we need to get married, we need to have youngsters. We need to have massive households. Since all we’ve got is one another, we need to have massive households. It would be so cool if we may have multiples,” Kristina says, with Karissa including they they each need to have twins.

Together with the PEOPLE interview got here the pair’s first photoshoot of their 30s, which marked one other recent begin for the dual sisters.

“We have been excited as a result of that is our first time doing a photograph shoot in our 30s, as grownups with out the X-rated stuff,” Kristina says. “Individuals have not seen us since 2022. We have been in hiding since A&E Secrets and techniques of Playboy. It is like the primary time our followers are seeing us. We’re stepping again out and letting our followers know the place we’re at, what we appear like at the moment.”

“We’re altering our look. That is our transition in our 30s and you’ll see it. We’re simply making an attempt to determine it out like all people,” Karissa provides, noting that the pair are lowering their breast implants.

Whereas the longer term remains to be unclear, the twins maintained that they are nonetheless the identical women they at all times have been, simply grown up.

“We’re therapeutic and listening to our inside selves and retaining God first. We reworked our psychological and now you possibly can bodily see how a lot better we’re. It begins from inside and it is all actually related,” she continues. “We’re excited to work onerous, have enjoyable and proceed defending our peace.”