Simmone Logue and twin Joey on love, loss – and lunch with Alan Jones

Joanna and Simmone Logue, artist and celebrity cook respectively, were born fraternal twins 60 years ago but believe they’re actually identical. They’ve supported each other through depression and death, success and new love.

Joanna and Simmone Logue. “We’ve both had depressive episodes since we were adolescents but not usually at the same time, which allows us to help each other,” says Joanna.Credit: James Brickwood

Simmone: Joey and I were born in Scone Hospital [in the NSW Hunter region]. They said we were fraternal twins, but we believe we’re identical, alike in every way. As children, we were inseparable. One day, when we were six, we were up a tree and Joey fell and broke her arm. My pain was worse than hers.

In 1980, when we were 16, our parents separated. I lived with Dad in the family home in [Sydney’s] Eastwood and Mum, Joey and our little brother, Andy, moved to Pennant Hills. It was the first time Joey and I had been separated and we missed each other so much that I became very depressed. Two months later, I moved to Mum’s. Joey and I slept on mattresses on the floor to be next to each other.

In her mid-30s, Joey suffered a terrible depression. I knew how bad it felt and just wanted to take the pain away. I did a deal with God: if she got better, I’d give up – everything. I told her that it would pass in time and it did. We’ve always been able to lift each other during these episodes.

‘Joanna tossed me a small pair of scissors and said I needed to cut my nasal hairs.’

Simmone Logue

In 1997, Joey and I bought a property at Essington Park [near Oberon in central west NSW] and we renovated the whole place. We wanted it to be somewhere we could call home, no matter what we were doing or whom we were with. Two years ago, just before I opened my cooking school there, Joey came over from the US for a month to help me get everything ready. It was just like when we were little and working on a project together. We were like pigs in shit, painting, planting, shovelling.

In 2017, when she told me she was marrying Martin, an American, and moving to Mount Desert Island [in Maine], we cried our eyes out, but I was happy for her. And when I married Ray in 2022 on Lizard Island, they flew in to join us. It was just the four of us and Martin gave me away. We’re both the happiest we’ve ever been with our kind, nurturing, supportive men, and Martin and Ray get on beautifully, which makes my heart sing. We only see each other about twice a year, but we WhatsApp every few days.

Joey’s the best friend anyone could have. When Harry [M. Miller, the celebrity agent and Simmone’s partner until his death in 2018] was in the late stages of dementia, she’d come to our beach house in Wombarra [south of Sydney] to help me care for him. When she knew I needed a break, she’d lie on the bed with him, holding his hand. I’m sure he thought she was me.

And she always gives it to me straight. When she was last here, she tossed me a small pair of scissors and said I needed to cut my nasal hairs.

Sometimes I feel I can’t live up to Joey’s expectations because she’s such a perfectionist. It’s not anything she says – she might just redo a flower arrangement – but then I feel as if what I do isn’t good enough and I might say something and we both end up crying. She’ll say, “Well, I’m going in two days; you’ll be rid of me”, and then we’re both crying and hugging because we can’t bear to fight.

If Joey’s home or I’m over there visiting, we wait for the boys to get up and then I hop into her bed with tea. I hope I go first; I won’t cope with losing her.

Simmone: “They said we were fraternal twins, but we believe we’re identical, alike in every way.”

Joanna: Simmone is the older by 15 minutes and has always been protective of me; when I was little, she’d be the one to comfort me if there was family upset or I’d hurt myself. We’ve always been joined at the hip and that can be problematic: you don’t get a sense of your own individuality.

At the end of year 10, Simmone went to full-time ballet school and was away touring a lot. Our parents had just separated and I honestly felt as if I’d been cut in half, I was profoundly insecure and unsettled.

Simmone introduced me to her ballet friends and one of them, Jan Pinkerton, became my close friend and then my romantic partner for the next decade and a half. During the pandemic, Jan was dying of cancer and I couldn’t get back to Australia. Simmone helped Jan’s wife and cousin nurse her and was a conduit between us at the end. I have no words to describe how spiritually powerful that was for me and how grateful I was.

‘She has a pure, unadulterated response that’s so valuable and, at the same time, she doesn’t pull any punches.’

Joanna Logue

Simmone’s incredibly nurturing. She nursed Harry and is doing it again with our mother, who has dementia. She took her out of her nursing home to look after her at Essington Park. I want nothing but her happiness.

Just before an exhibition, when I’m full of self-doubt and anxiety, she affirms me. She has a pure, unadulterated response that’s so valuable and, at the same time, she doesn’t pull any punches. She might say, “Darling, I don’t think this is working” and I listen to her because I know she’s right. I trust her implicitly.

Simmone is always honest; I know she won’t piss in my pocket. When I met Martin, I was fearful of losing my independence because I’d been on my own for 20 years, but Simmone encouraged me towards him because she could see he was perfect for me and that I’d flourish.

We’ve both had depressive episodes since we were adolescents but not usually at the same time, which allows us to help each other. When we were in our mid-30s, though – both of us ambitious and working so hard – we fell into a terrible depression and had to find our own ways through it. I learnt that I needed to spend time on my own, which I did at Essington Park – living there alone, painting, for many years. I found power in my independence and creativity.

We’ve only really had one deep upset, in about 2017. She told me she and Harry were going to Alan Jones’ house for lunch and what a sweet man he was. I didn’t say anything but rolled my eyes. She was so upset she went to bed, and I felt gutted that I’d been so judgmental. I cried all night and apologised profusely the next morning. I still feel bad about that. That was a lesson in tolerance and understanding that everyone is different, even your twin sister and soulmate.

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