Simply Amazing

Molly Sinert was born in South Korea on   March 29, 1985, and adopted as an infant by a Jewish family in Winter Park.

Emily Bushnell was also born in South Korea on March 29, 1985, and adopted as an infant by a Jewish family in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Neither Emily nor Molly knew of the other’s existence. Yet 36 years later, the women would come face-to-face after discovering they are identical twins who were separated at birth – a revelation that shook both of their worlds.

Molly and Emily found each other at long last thanks to DNA tests and a precocious youngster (Emily’s daughter, Izzy). At their emotional reunion in 2021, the women set out on an amazing journey – quite literally – as inseparable sisters and the best of friends. Their path together led them to The Amazing Race TV show... but more on that later.

Our Hometown Girl

In the summer of ‘85, little Molly was adopted by Merrill and Marla Sinert as their only child. Merrill, now a 68-year-old retiree and volunteer at Orlando Shakes, still lives in the family’s Winter Park home. Marla passed away unexpectedly in March of this year shortly after being diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

“My wife always wanted to adopt a baby from Asia,” says Merrill. “When we adopted Molly, we had no idea she was a twin. We would have adopted both twins if we knew that, and Emily’s mother would have adopted both twins, too, if she had known.”

Merrill now has a treasure trove of photos of both Molly and Emily as kids and teens. The girls look like mirror images of one another, but every photo features one twin without the other. In their respective prom pictures, the girls strike the same pose in strapless, beaded dresses and with upswept hairstyles. And the similarity of their baby pictures is “uncanny,” Merrill says.

Growing up, Molly attended Jewish Academy of Orlando and then Winter Park’s Eastbrook Elementary and Tuskawilla Middle School in Winter Springs. A dancer and an excellent student, she graduated from Seminole High School’s Academy of Health Careers and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Florida.

“Though we weren’t connected to our Korean culture, Emily and I were very strongly connected to our Jewish culture,” says Molly, who is now married and a resident of Palm Beach Gardens. “I think that was very therapeutic for us in that we felt a sense of belonging.”

A Jewish Journey

As a child, Emily enjoyed Shabbat dinners with her adoptive parents and brothers in Pennsylvania, and both girls went to synagogue on Fridays. Molly was bat mitzvahed in Altamonte Springs, and Emily went to Israel on a Birthright trip.

“I felt more comfortable walking into Jewish homes than non-Jewish homes,” says Emily, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and now lives in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. “I don’t know what it is, I just felt like they’re my people.”

A health scare prompted Molly to take a DNA test in February 2021 to learn more about her genetic background. She used the popular DNA-testing and ancestry-tracing company 23andMe. Emily’s daughter Izzy, who’d been curious about her own mother’s biological relatives for years, had previously taken a 23andMe DNA test with Emily’s permission. At first, nothing notable came from Izzy’s sample – until Molly sent in hers.

That’s when things got interesting but also confusing. 23andMe predicted Molly had a biological daughter in its database with whom she shared 49.96 percent DNA. The test had to be wrong, Molly thought, for a very simple and definitive reason: she’d never given birth.

Even so, Molly decided to contact the family of her supposed daughter through the information provided by 23andMe. She reached out to Emily and Izzy in March 2021, still with no idea Emily was her long-lost sister. It was Izzy – 11 years old at the time – who solved the puzzle of how she and Molly could be related. She responded to Molly’s query with, “You must be my mother’s sister!”

Izzy also revealed a crucial piece of information: her mom Emily’s birthday was March 29, 1985. In an instant, everything became clear. They were twins. Overjoyed but also overwhelmed, they didn’t want their first meeting to be a virtual one. So, they opted to wait and meet in-person later that month on their 36th birthday.

Double Life

The significance of the number 36 in Jewish culture is not lost on either woman. In Hebrew, 18 is the numerical value of the word chai, meaning life. One life equals 18, and two lives equals 36, or double chai.

Both women have spent the last year on a roller coaster of emotions, from elation about being reunited to sadness over special moments they didn’t get to share. Emily missed Molly’s wedding, and Molly missed the birth of Izzy, who is now 13.

“But we were two lives, two chais, that were brought together at 36,” says Molly with tears in her eyes, “which makes it a little bit easier to swallow that pill.”

Happily, the twins’ respective families have blended into one big, extended tribe.

“We just feel so at home and comfortable together,” says Emily. “Molly’s father and my mother might as well have been siblings. They kind of bicker and poke fun at each other a little bit.”

Adds Merrill: “It’s like our families have known each other our whole lives. Izzy even calls me Grandpa Merrill. Our families are very, very close.”

Merrill smiles when recalling the first time he and his wife met their daughter’s twin.

“Molly and Emily played a trick on me,” says Merrill. “They both dressed the same, so when I met Emily, I thought she was Molly. And then Molly came around the corner and surprised me.”

Marla, however, wasn’t fooled.

Even though Molly and Emily are identical twins, they do have slightly different physical characteristics. Height is one way to tell them apart: Molly is about an inch taller than Emily.

The twins’ incredible reunion in 2021 captured the attention of media outlets around the world. Their story, which Molly describes as “beautifully tragic,” has been featured in People magazine, on TV shows such as Good Morning America and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and in a documentary produced by the Seoul Broadcasting System in Korea.

Molly, now a healthcare business director, and Emily, a law firm administrator, have since identified their birth parents (and other biological siblings) in Korea – but have not yet met them. For now, the women are bonding and making up for lost time together, which brings us back to The Amazing Race.

Dream Team

Emily and Molly are cast members of the current season of CBS’s Race, the award-winning reality show in which teams of two compete to win a $1 million prize by racing around the world. The 34th season debuted in September and is slated to wrap up on December 7. Molly and Emily are contractually prohibited from saying who won the race, but at press time, the twins were exceptionally strong contenders who were still very much in the running.

“While on the show, Molly and Emily got to spend 34 glorious days together, around the clock, traveling around the world,” says Merrill. “They missed out on 36 years but got to replace it with that.”

The show was filmed earlier this year, right after Molly’s mother Marla passed away – which made Race especially poignant for the twins. Marla loved to travel and had visited many locales around the world with Merrill, her husband of 45 years.

“I really felt her presence on the Race,” says Molly through tears.

An equally emotional Emily adds, “Marla was definitely traveling with us through our entire race. She definitely helped Molly and me pull through some difficult situations, and just knowing we were racing in her honor carried a lot of weight.”

Both Molly and Emily are thankful for the unforgettable experiences they shared during filming – and most especially, they are thankful for each other.

“Molly being in my life is a gift,” says Emily. “And then having the opportunity to be on Race was a gift. I’m just forever grateful. No matter what, we were winners.