Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry’s Candid Confessions May Make You Do a Double Take
For six seasons, Sister, Sister fans watched as Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry’s characters were (Alexa, play the theme song) “shaking up the family tree with sibling synchronicity.”
But lately, internet users have been wondering if the stars and IRL twins are still just as in sync.
Questions about the state of their bond started to arise last month after a sneak peek at Tia’s new reality series Tia Mowry: My Next Act dropped and showed her navigating her new chapter following her divorce from Cory Hardrict.
“Being alone has been the most challenging part of my divorce,” The Game star—who shares son Cree, 13, and daughter Cairo, 6, with the actor—said in the Sept. 20 teaser. “It’s times like this when I feel and wish that my sister and I were still close, and I could pick up the phone and call her. But that’s just not where we are right now.”
As for their current status?
“We live in different places,” Tia continued in the Oct. 4 premiere episode, noting her home in Los Angeles is about 400 miles from Tamera in Napa Valley. “We have our own families. We have our own wants and desires and needs. We have different lives now.”
But when it came to her closeness comment, Tia insisted she was referring to their physical proximity and not the state of their relationship.
“What I meant by that is we as siblings are not as accessible to one another,” the actress told E! News, noting roles and families also keep them busy, “and that is beautiful and challenging at the same time.”
As for how Tamera felt about her sister’s remark? “I think that’s something you would have to ask her,” Tia added. “I don’t want to speak on behalf of my sister, but there’s nothing to say. We’re in this industry, we’re in this business, and we all know it’s very normal for people to take things out of context. And it’s a part of our life, and it is what it is, but that’s all.”
And as she enters her next act, it appears Tia didn’t feel the need to give Tamera a heads-up about My Next Act.
"It's normal for you not to tell everyone everything," she told the Associated Press Oct. 11. "It doesn't mean anything. There's nothing loaded. She's living her life, I'm living my life. We don't have to tell each other everything, and that's very normal."
To learn more about the drama—as well as other candid confessions Tia and Tamera have shared about their lives over the years—keep reading.
After finalizing her divorce from Cory Hardrict in April 2023, Tia Mowry reflected on her new single chapter.
"I came into this world with a twin," the actress said on the premiere episode of her reality series Tia Mowry: My Next Act, which debuted in October 2024, while referencing sister Tamera Mowry, "and right after that I went into a 22-year relationship. So I have never been alone in my life. It has been quite a journey."
Tia and Cory met in 1999 while working on the movie Hollywood Horror. While their relationship started off as platonic, it later turned romantic and Tia noted "Cory was my first everything."
"I met Cory when I turned 20, and I lost my virginity at 25. There, I said it," she continued on her We TV series. "And then we got married! Boom!"
Tia and Cory wed in 2008 and welcomed two children together: son Cree in 2011 and daughter Cairo in 2018.
But in 2022, the couple split. While Tia cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for their breakup in her divorce filing, she later offered insight into when she knew her marriage to Cory was over.
“I knew when I really started to focus on my happiness,” the Sister, Sister alum said on a November 2022 episode of Today. “I feel like women, we tend to focus on everybody else’s happiness, making sure that everybody else is OK—meaning our children, our friends, our family. But at the end of the day, it's about self-love. And when you start to really work on yourself, love yourself, know your value, know your worth, then all of a sudden there's this awakening. And it's not easy. It's a hard journey. But at the end of the day, I feel like it is so, so worth it."
After being honest with herself about the dissolution of her marriage, Tia wanted to be upfront with the public, too.
"I got tired of not being authentic and living in my truth," she added in Tia Mowry: My Next Act. "I got tired of showing up at events and people thinking everything was perfect when it wasn't."
Tia also considered how the divorce would affect Cree and Cairo.
“A part of my decision was also for them,” she explained in a June 2023 interview with HelloBeautiful. “For them seeing their mother walk in truth. I feel like it’s a great lesson for them because it was not an easy decision. It was one of the hardest decisions that I had ever had to make in my entire life. But if they see that mommy can do it, that mommy, no matter what people say, no matter, even if there’s some sort of doubt, whatever, mommy pushed through. [They can say] my mommy is living and chasing her truth."
And The Game star hopes her kids can one day carve their own path, too.
"I want my children to do that," she added. "That’s the best gift I can give them. I want for them not to live a life that I want them to live, for them not to live a life that everybody else wants them to live or what they think that they should be or live. I want them to see that it is okay to have a bad day. I want them to see that it is okay to chase your joy. I want them to see that it is okay to live your truth.”
While Tia and Tamera have graced fans' screens for decades, it appears they don't see each other as often as they used to off-screen.
"Being alone has been the most challenging part of my divorce," Tia said in a September sneak peek of Tia Mowry: My Next Act. "It's times like this when I feel and wish that my sister and I were still close, and I could pick up the phone and call her. But that's just not where we are right now."
Pointing out, "We live in different places. We have our own families. We have our own wants and desires and needs," Tia simply said, "We have different lives now."
A source close to the matter told E! in September 2024 "the sisters are close but the quote being referenced was about their physical location—Tamera lives in Napa and Tia lives in Los Angeles." Tia also later clarified her remarks, noting she was referring to proximity when discussing their closeness.
“What I meant by that is we as siblings are not as accessible to one another," she told E! in early October, "and that is beautiful and challenging at the same time.”
Still, it was a bit of a shock when Tamera said she found out Tia was returning to reality TV when fans did.
"I didn't know," she told Entertainment Tonight in May 2024. "I found out with the rest of the world."
As for whether Tamera will make a cameo on Tia's series? "She didn't ask me," the former cohost of The Real continued. "So I take that as no."
However, Tamera suggested she was fine with not appearing on Tia's series.
"She's like, 'This is my story,'" she added. "I can only respect that."
And Tia suggested she didn't think it was a big deal that she didn't give Tamera a heads-up about the reality show.
"It's normal for you not to tell everyone everything," she told the Associated Press Oct. 11, 2024. "It doesn't mean anything. There's nothing loaded. She's living her life, I'm living my life. We don't have to tell each other everything, and that's very normal."
The siblings have spoken about their ups and downs before.
During an episode of their former reality show Tia & Tamera—which ran from 2011 to 2013—they attended a counseling session to work on their communication.
"It's because we were so different, and we needed to learn to communicate in a way that was positive for the both of us," Tamera explained on a 2019 episode of The Real. "I'm very sensitive as the world knows, and my sister—she's very assertive and she can handle herself. We had to learn how to communicate properly with each other."
Growing up, Tamera was used to the public drawing comparisons between her and Tia.
"Being born as an identical twin, I feel like I had no choice in the matter that people were going to compare. It happens," she said in a January 2024 YouTube video. "You see twins your brain automatically wants to compare and look at the differences: 'Oh, this twin has a fuller face. This twin is thinner. That's how we can tell them apart. One has a mole. One has a more bubbly personality. One is a little bit more shy.'"
And after a while, these comparisons took a toll.
"As I got older—college, being on TV—I started to take it personal and that's when it became toxic," the actress continued. "And you can Google to see the toxic comparions out there."
However, her mother gave her some advice: "Comparison is the thief of joy."
"Even though I'm a twin, God made each of us different," Tamera said. "We may have the same DNA, but we have different gifts. And that's OK."
Just as how Tia has opened up about her time with Cory, Tamera has given fans glimpses inside her relationship with husband Adam Housley. And while she's called him "the love of my life," like any couple, they experience highs and lows.
"Thirteen years, I can't believe it," Tamera, who wed Adam in 2011, told E! News in May 2024. "It's gone by fast actually. I always say, 'You're gonna have your ups and downs.' Our marriage is not perfect, but I still like him. I like who he is as a human being. And we're actually growing together instead of apart."
And they check in on each other.
"Every now and then just ask them, 'Are you happy?'" Tamera, who shares kids Aden and Ariah with Adam, continued. "'What things can we do to continue keeping us happy?' Because I don't just want to be married for a long time, I want to be happily married for a long time."
After more than a decade of marriage, it seems Tamera and Adam still know how to keep things spicy.
"For me, staying happily married is having sex goals," the Twitches alum said on a 2022 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. "And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with women being vocal about it."
As for what those goals include? According to Today, Tamera wrote in her memoir You Should Sit Down for This a list of places she wants to have sex, including on the rooftop of a skyscraper, on a car in the rain and in each room in her house.
"I wanted to get rid of all those stereotypes," she told the outlet. "Own your man. Own your sex life and love it! Just because you've been married for over a decade that doesn't mean that you have to dry up."
Tamera has gotten real about her first four years on The Real.
"It was one of the unhappiest times of my life," she wrote in her memoir while discussing the commute, the grind and public scrutiny. "I suffered horrible anxiety, I'd throw up in my dressing room, I drank way too much."
Still, Tamera has many fond memories from her seven years on the show, too—which she reflected on while announcing her departure from cohosting in 2020.
"The friendships that I've made there will last a lifetime, and the people that I've had the blessing to interview have changed my life for the better," she wrote in part of an Instagram post at the time. "I'm so proud of what all the ladies and I have accomplished there, including two well-deserved NAACP Image Awards and a Daytime Emmy."
With so many '90s shows getting a refresh, fans have wondered if Sister, Sister might be rebooted too. However, Tia and Tamera have noted that the process isn't easy.
"My sister and I had been trying for a few months now," Tia said on a 2017 episode of The Real. "We can only do so much."
And while some fans may still hold out hope for a revival, Tamera told Us Weekly in May 2024, "It’s not happening."
