It's not that they have large breasts. It's that they have four of them. The Barbi Twins — 29-year-old former belly dancers Shane and Sia — have built successful careers as sexual icons on their two accident-causing billboards on Sunset Boulevard, three cheesy cheesecake calendars, and two record-breaking Playboy covers (the most recent of which, January 1993, they say paid $1 million). They don't sing or act — ''We pretty much suck at acting,'' admits the quieter Sia (pronounced she-a) — but still the offers pour in: They're currently considering feature roles in a sequel to Blake Edwards' smash ''10'' (called, naturally, ''20''), a TV talk show, even, Shane claims, parts in a Disney film. They're bizarre, they're bulimic, and they're America's current cartoon sweethearts, complete with appearances in ads during the recent Super Bowl. The Barbis spent a few of their 15 minutes of fame sharing with us their thoughts on love, life, and longevity in L.A.:
What do your mom and dad think of your chosen career?
Shane: They're very supportive. I went to them and I said,
''There's good news, and there's bad news. The good news is that we're
very famous and successful. The bad news is — don't laugh — we're sex
symbols.''
What do you think is the secret of your attractiveness?
Shane: We look good in Playboy because of the photographer. We
were fat and ugly — we weighed 145 pounds. In our calendar, on the
other hand, we look —
Sia: — horrible! —
Shane: Like Elvira. Not that that's bad — we love Elvira, but for a
calendar... but the calendar became good anyway —
Sia: ''Became good?'' Forgive her grammar —
Shane: Excuse my grammar — it got us a lot of attention, and Mr.
Hefner wanted us.
Sia: When we shot the first billboard, we weighed 115 pounds
(they're 5'9''), but we were so thin from bulimia we can't even
remember the day we did it.
Shane: The next day, of course, we binged and blimped up by 20
pounds.
Have you had plastic surgery — breast implants, nose jobs, collagen
injections in your lips?
Shane: No. My sister is a B cup and I'm a D, and if we can hide
that, it just goes to show you can fake anything.
Sia: I'm deathly scared of being put to sleep. But if I was awake
and it wasn't so bad for me....
How would you define your look?
Shane: We constantly change our look. We have this saying that we
have the ''freshly f---ed look'' — like we just got out of bed.
Sia: The girl next door... moved.
Shane: We're not going out for a milk commercial.
What's the best part of being famous?
Shane: There are copycat twins who impersonate us at the Comedy
Store. That's a compliment — we're not even dead yet. And we're
rich — we're set for life.
How has your fame affected your love lives?
Sia: We have a lot of weirdos in the bushes — and those are only the
celebrities.
Shane: My sister has the longest relationships — they're 20 minutes.
We both dated the same
man once, but only my sleazy sister slept with him.
Sia: (groans)
Shane: He never found out that we both dated him — I think he's in a
mental hospital now.
