Muhammad Ali's Twin Daughters Discuss Their Close Bond And Their Famous Father

Jet, March 15, 1999

They look alike. They talk alike and sometimes, they even think alike.

They are identical twin sisters Jamillah Ali and Rasheda Ali-Walsh, daughters of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

The Ali twins are among 27 sets of twins featured in the new book, Twins, with photographs by David Fields and essays by Ruth and Rachel Sandweiss (Running Press, $27.50).

Recognizing that there are 120 new sets of twins born every day, Twins is a celebration of the multifaceted experiences of twinship.

The Ali twins recently discussed their close bond and their famous father during a visit to the Johnson Publishing Company headquarters in Chicago.

"In the book there are 27 sets of twins, and the book illustrates so much of the similarities as well as the differences that each twin goes through," Rasheda points out.

Says Jamillah, "Most people do not know much about twins. They understand that some twins have psychic abilities, they feel each other's pain and things like that. And actually that's true for some twins."

She points out, "But for Rasheda and me, it is not true. We finish each other's sentences. We know each other and are actually closer than what another sibling would be because we have been joined together ever since we were in the womb. So biologically, we are always together. She is a part of me, so I am actually really close to her."

The twins, who are 28 years old, live together outside of Chicago. Jamillah is a single mother of two children, Nadia, 3, and newborn Amira, who was 9 days old at the time of this interview. Rasheda and her husband, noted restaurant chef Robert Walsh, are new parents of 6-month-old, Biaggio Ali Walsh.

The sisters say they enjoy the same hobbies. "We love traveling; we love jet skiing; we love vacationing," Jamillah notes. "We love the same type of jobs, which are sports marketing jobs."

She adds, "We tend to like the same things. Like earlier today at the restaurant, we ordered the same thing without knowing what the other one was going to order."

They also give each other the same gifts on their birthday, they reveal.

But while they share a lot of the same interests, they have totally different personalities.

"I am a little more introverted," notes Jamillah. "I am kind of sensitive. It takes me longer to get to know people than she does. Rasheda is more enthusiastic and outgoing than I am."

Adds Rasheda, "I am really overprotective of Jamillah and the people who she meets. I have to meet them to make sure they are okay. I look out for her and she has to call me so I won't worry at night."

Jamillah adds with a laugh, "She will worry even though we are the same age. She acts like she is 5 years older than I am, even though she is only 2 1/2 minutes older," she laughs.

They are both graduates of University of Illinois at Champaign and majored in communications. They once worked together in promotions for the Miami Heat. "We've been around sports all of our lives," notes Jamillah.

Turning their attention to their world-famous father, the twins share what he has taught them and how they handle the pressures of having a celebrity parent.

Notes Rasheda, "People expect us to be in a certain way as confident as our father was and to be as successful as our father is. There is this ongoing expectation that people have of us because he is so popular and he is famous. We could never be as famous as he is, of course, but they expect us to have all the same traits. And some of the traits we don't have. We are our own people, but we can still learn from him and he is a great model."

Like any other father, Ali was very protective of the twins when they grew up. He used to tell them "stay out of trouble, stay away from boys and don't leave the house until you are 60 years old," Rasheda laughs.

The twins are Ali's daughters from his second marriage to Khalilah Ali. They also have two other siblings, May May and Muhammad.

As children, they were afraid to watch Ali fight. "We didn't want to see Daddy get hit, "recalls Jamillah. "That's normal, but as we got older, we have grown to enjoy the sport and when he left boxing, it wasn't as interesting to watch. A lot of boxing fans will tell you that when he left the sport, it died down."

They talk to their famous dad at least once a week, sometimes more, they note.

"He has always been so supportive, even as we did the Twins book," says Rasheda. "He supports the book and was patient as we took the pictures for the book. And it is hard for him to tell us apart too," Rasheda says as they both laugh.

They say they get inspiration and motivation by watching tapes of their father's famous championship fights.

"If something happens and I am not performing as I should be, I put on a tape of one of his fights," says Rasheda. "I look at him and how he has overcome a lot of adversities. Daddy grew up in a time when a lot of African-Americans did not have the privileges that we have now. He went through quite a struggle to make it, to pave the way for a lot of African-Americans who are successful today. He inspires us to keep going on and move forward and keep a positive mind as we go through our struggles in life."