Mariah Carey Expecting Twins: Hollywood Seeing Double, Again

Mariah Carey is expecting twins. You may have heard the Mariah Carey twin news but guess who heard it first? Mariah Carey first shared the news that she and Nick Cannon were expecting twins with President and First Lady Obama following the Christmas at the White House special.

The long awaited twins of singer Celine Dion made their debut in October. Eddy and Nelson were named after record producer Eddy Marnay and Nelson Mandella who Dion met briefly while kicking off her South Africa tour two years ago.

Year after year, Hollywood seems to be seeing double with celebrity twins. Just how common are twins?

Twin statistics for the general population:

In 2006, the twin birth rate was 32.2 per 1,000 or a little over 3%.

Fertility treatments are correlated to 17% of twin births.

Women over the age of forty five give birth to 20 % of twins compared to 2% in mothers ages twenty to twenty four.

Celine Dion's twins join a myriad of other twins of celebrities.

In June of 2009, Sarah Jessica Parker, (Sex and the City) Mathew Broderick and big brother James welcomed twin girls, Marion and Tabitha.

In February 2008, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were blessed with twins, Max and Emme.

In July 2008 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed twins Knox and Vivienne who joined the super sized family that includes Zahara, Pax, Maddox and Shiloh.

Lisa Marie Presley and husband and Michael Lockwood were blessed with twins, Finley and Harper. Lisa Marie's father, Elvis Presley, was also a twin at birth. His twin brother Jesse was stillborn.

In December 2008 Rebecca Romjin (X-Men and Ugly Betty) and her husband Jerry O'Connell welcomed two babies on board, daughter Dolly and Charlie.

Maria Cross who played Kimberly on Melrose Place and now Bree on Desperate Housewives, landed her favorite role in February 2007 as mother of twins, Eden and Savannah.

Mia Hamm is a true "soccer mom." This Olympic and World Cup soccer winner welcomed twin daughters Grace and Ava in March of 2007.

Nancy Grace welcomed and blogged away about twins Lucy and John, born November 4, 2007.

Holly Hunter became a first time "incredible" mom and mother of twins at age 47 in February 2006. Hunter played mom Helen Parr in the movie The Incredibles.

Jazz musician Diana Krall and singer Elvis Costella got double "the blues" in December 2006 when twin sons Dexter and Frank joined the band.

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance were blessed with twins Brownwyn and Slater in 2006.

Julia Roberts, the favorite "Pretty Woman" welcomed Hazel and Phinnaeus in November 2004. She and husband Danny Moder had another son in 2007.

Former President and First Lady George W. and Laura Bush are parents of adult twin girls Barbara and Jenna. Each daughter is named after a grandmother and Laura Bush holds the distinction of being the only First Lady mother of twins.

Jane Seymour, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Dancing with the Stars and former Bond girl, bonded with twins Johnny and Kris in 1995. Seymour's boys are named after friends Johnny Cash and Christopher Reeves.

Last but not least, before giving birth to sextuplets, (and before John & Kate Plus Eight and Dancing with the Stars and Kate Plus Eight) Kate Gosslin became the mother of twins, Madelyn and Cara in 2000.

Did you know?

Egyptian Queen Cleopatra was the mother of twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selena, so twins for celebrities certainly isn't a new age phenomenon.

Sources:

http://multiples.about.com/od/celebrities/tp/famoustwinmom.01.htm

http://www.mothersover40.com/celebrities.html#anchor_92

www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/17/gallery.ng.twins

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/17/gallery.ng.twins/

http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/twinbirthrate.htm

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/338881/nick-cannon-mariah-carey-and-i-are-expecting-twins/