Twins tied to Jay-Z, De Niro upsetting Upper East Side moms

They’re seeing double trouble.

Upper East Side parents and nannies are up in arms — and calling authorities — over a pair of mysterious identical twin women who don’t have kids themselves but often hang around the John Jay Park playground. They say the duo are creeping around their kids, eerily engaging them — one caretaker recalled a twin wanting to braid her young charge’s hair and then photograph the tot — and asking invasive questions.

“This is my daughter’s playground. I don’t want adults around children,” Paulina, a 35-year-old mother of four, told The Post.

This past Wednesday, she spotted the two 40-year-old women — who are known as the “the Indiggo Twins” but whose real names are Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea — at the park. She recognized them from a picture posted on an online mommy group and immediately phoned the police.

“I don’t know why they’re not doing something better with their lives instead of hanging out at a playground,” Paulina fumed. “You have to draw the line.”


Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea wearing matching dresses in a park.
Twin sisters Gabriela Mordocea, 40, left, and Mihaela Mordocea, 40, enjoy performing in John Jay Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Stephen Yang

Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea at the playground at John Jay park.
Upper East Side parents say the twins have no business on the playground if they’re not there with children.
Stephen Yang

Sign in John Jay Park that reads: "No adults except in the company of a child."
On Friday, the Parks Department put up a sign saying “No adults except in the company of a child” after getting a flurry of complaints about the twins.
Stephen Yang

Last week, after a flurry of parents voiced concerns to Community Board 5, the Parks Department erected a sign on the gates outside of the entrance to the playground reading, “No adults except in the company of a child.”

But while the twins have violated that stated park rule, the department has not been advised of any actual illegal activity involving them.

Still, some caring for little ones say the sisters have come too close. One caretaker recalled feeling uncomfortable after they asked the name and age of one of the babies she looked after.


Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea having an altercations with a man holding a baby in a carrier in John Jay park. All parties have blurred faces.
Neighborhood watchdogs have shared photos of the twins in a parenting group, claiming they’re disturbing and potentially dangerous.
Provided to The New York Post

People at John Jay Park with faces scribbled out.
“If you’re not with kids, stay out of the playground,” one parent wrote in a thread.
Provided to The New York Post

Close up Gabriella Mordocea outside park with prayer hands.
The sisters claim they’ve been shocked by the recent allegations against them and are simply well-meaning, ethereal artists who follow Jesus.
Stephen Yang

The nanny who recounted the strange hair-braiding incident said she left the park and took her 3-year-old charge home immediately after the encounter.

“It’s really scary,” the nanny, who asked for anonymity, told The Post. “Maybe she wants to do something else.”

Moms have been sounding off about the twins for months in a local Facebook group.

“If you’re not with kids, stay out of the playground,” one parent wrote in a thread.


Jay Z in front of blue flowers.
The Indiggo Twins had their song, “La La La,” sampled on Jay Z’s “Watch The Throne” album.
Getty Images for 40/40 Club

Robert De Niro.
The twins shared a smooch with Robert De Nero at a party in 2020.
Getty Images

Another parent pleaded, “Call whoever you have to call to keep our kids safe.”

But, the Modorceas say they’re being unfairly villainized.

“We’ve lived here for 16 years. For 16 years we’ve gone to John Jay. It’s the closest to us. It’s a completely false alarm,” Gabriela said.

The sisters’ story, according to them, is that they were born in Transylvania in 1983 and went to the Bucharest National University of Arts. In 2006, they came to the U.S. to pursue a career in music and theater. They settled in a humble Upper East Side apartment where they live with their mother. Gabriela plays the piano and works as a composer while Mihaela plays the guitar and writes songs.


Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea at a party wearing coordinating dresses, one red, one green.
The twins were often photographed out on the town in years past.
Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea wearing black cocktail dresses in front of a step and repeat.
In 2016, they struck a pose at a summer kickoff event in Southampton.
Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Before they made parents bristle with their playground presence, the twins had a number of more positive brushes with fame.

In 2008, they appeared on “America’s Got Talent.” The following year, they were in a New York Post story about keeping fit. In 2011, they were photographed kissing Robert De Nero at a Vanity Fair party. That same year, one of their songs was sampled on Jay Z’s “Watch The Throne” album. In 2017, they performed a song from their Off-Broadway play “Wicked Clone” on “Good Day New York.”

The duo claimed they’ve been shocked by the recent allegations against them and are simply well-meaning, ethereal artists who follow Jesus and always wear matching — or at least complementary — outfits.


Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea on "America's Got Talent" wearing skimpy, sparkly outfit.
The sisters were contestants on “America’s Got Talent” in 2008
©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea on "America's Got Talent" wearing mini skirts and sequined bra tops in black and red.
The pair came to New York when they were 24 to pursue a career in the arts.
NBCUniversal via Getty Images

“The way we look [in the parenting group] – we look like criminals. Hardcore criminals. My weapon is love,” Gabriela said. “We’re Christians, we’re all about promoting love and light.”

“It’s a completely false alarm. It’s the opposite,” Mihaela added.

Not all Upper East Siders find the sisters worrisome.

“They don’t seem harmful to me. Total strangers, yes, but they’ve interacted with us and I don’t feel like it’s a threat,” Lucilla, a nanny of 33 years, told The Post. “They have men that come in the park that don’t come with kids. They have young kids that smoke. That’s what [authorities] need to focus on. I don’t think they should be worried about [the twins].”


"Good Day New York" still showing promotional material for "Wicked Clone" musical with Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea.
In 2017, the duo starred in an off-Broadway play, “Wicked Clone.”
Fox

Still of Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea performing on "Good Day New York."
They performed a song from the show on “Good Day New York.”
Fox

Gabriela and Mihaela Modorcea talk with Good Day New York's Rosanna Scotto and Lori Stokes in video still.
They also talked with Rosanna Scotto and Lori Stokes on the show.
Fox

Gabriela Mordocea dancing in the a park.
“The way we look [in the parenting group] – we look like criminals. Hardcore criminals. My weapon is love,” Gabriela says. “We’re Christians, we’re all about promoting love and light.”
Stephen Yang

Twins Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea dancing in John Jay park with a black fence as backdrop.
The sisters say they mean no harm to the children in John Jay Park.
Stephen Yang

In a statement, the Parks Department told The Post, “We will be increasing our patrols of our Parks Enforcement officers around the playground to monitor.” They organization has advised parents to report any illegal activity to the NYPD.

Twirling about the playground this past Wednesday, wearing matching, flowing, multi-colored dresses they designed, Gabriela insisted they have no ill will. Parents skeptically watched them from a distance. Some wheeled their strollers out of the playground after seeing the pair.


Close up of twins Gabriela Mordocea, and Mihaela Mordocea.
Gabriela Mordocea and Mihaela Mordocea have been surprised by the complaints against them.
Stephen Yang

“We love children beyond belief,” Mihaela insisted, adding that parents just need to be more open.

“Once they have spirituality and love is blooming inside their heart they will know how to distinguish who is someone who will harm your child and who is filled with love,” she said. “It’s challenging, weird times where people are overly crazy.”