We’re almost used to these kinds of pictures. Tokio Hotel as Germany’s most successful export. They received Platinum in Athens, and they could hardly get away from screaming fans. But who would have thought that the sought after twins Bill and Tom Kaulitz had been mobbed at school? Their step-father even had to pick them up from school to make sure they didn’t get beat up. For the first time, ever, they spoke to my colleague Eva Kreuz about the hardest time of their lives.
Their childhood has so far been a well kept secret. Never before, have Tokio Hotel let us come this close. Bill and Tom have always been inseparable, what would later become a problem.

Bill: I think this was really formative, the fact that we looked exactly the same for a while. That’s when it started that we wanted to get dressed on our own.

The Kaulitz twins developed their unique style, which was not received well at all in their home town Loitsche.

Tom: He has red shoe laces, communist bastard!

The other kids didn’t ever leave off the twins, and even their family was worried about them.

Bill: Our step-dad sometimes had to pick us up with the dog and a baseball bat.

Tom: It was like that on the bus in the mornings, too. People were beating each other up, all the time. Nobody took care of anyone, it was completely cold.

Bill: Those were the moments that we were incredibly glad that we had each other, that we were always together and nobody could ever catch us alone.

But it’s not just the other kids who did not accept Bill.

Bill: There were teachers at school who told me, “I’m not teaching you the way you look” and “You can’t come to gym class with make-up and piercings”.

Tom: We never showed people that it was a hard time for us. We always kept our strong and dominant faces. We never let anyone get us down.

The success of today proves them right. Their look is almost like a trademark. Their experiences with mobbing has marked them and won’t let them go overboard even during their biggest success.

Bill: In such moments you realise how big this whole thing has become. And sometimes you really can hardly breathe. Sometimes I think *phew*

They’re either loved or hated, the Tokio Hotel boys had to learn that early on. Still, they don’t want anyone to rain on their parade. After all, this is what they have fought for years.

You can watch THis vid if you’d raTHer English subtitles to text translations <=)