Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Twins Die in Apparent Joint Suicide

Bodies of Bill, Joe Smith found hanging from tree after Joe's cancer diagnosis
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 30, 2019 3:17 AM CST
Updated Dec 30, 2019 5:43 AM CST
Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Twins Die in Apparent Joint Suicide
The brothers were seen at a wedding just days before their deaths.   (YouTube)

Bill and Joe Smith came into this world together 32 years ago—and relatives say they decided to leave it together because they couldn't stand to be apart. The brothers, who starred in the TLC reality show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, were found hanging from a tree in southern England on Saturday morning after what is believed to be a joint suicide, Page Six reports. Police in Kent say they received a call after the bodies were found on a tree down a narrow country lane. They say the deaths are not being treated as suspicious. Phoebe Charleen Smith, their cousin, tells the Telegraph that Bill was devastated by his brother's recent cancer diagnosis, which may have led to a suicide pact.

"Joey had cancer, and Billy told him 'I'd never be able to live without you,'" the cousin says. "Joey told the family he got the all-clear after chemo two months ago, but we don’t know if that's true now," she says. "They went missing, and Joey’s phone was turned off. Then we found a note. It said that they wanted it like this, and we would find them in the woods where they played with the family years ago." Co-star Paddy Doherty said: "God bless their souls. That's a terrible, terrible tragedy. Pray for the boys' family, the boys' mother and father, help them be strong and get through this." A spokesman for Britain's Romani gypsy community said the deaths should be a "wake-up call" about the high suicide rate in the community.

(More reality TV stories.)

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