Rarely seen apart, Patty and Selma are known for their distinctive gravelly voices, cynical outlook on life, bitter and unpleasant personalities, and love of cigarettes. They share an apartment at the
Spinster City apartment complex and both work at the
DMV. The two are avid, sometimes maniacal fans of the TV series,
MacGyver. The two seem to be aroused by the character and smoke a cigarette after every viewing of the show. When
Jay Sherman, on advice from Homer, told Patty and Selma that MacGyver is gay, they stripped him to his boxers and hung him from the gutters. On the eve of Selma's marriage to
Sideshow Bob, he insulted MacGyver and the wedding was almost cancelled as a result. Selma and Patty once met the actor who portrayed MacGyver,
Richard Dean Anderson, and kidnapped him. Patty and Selma have taken many vacations together to various places including
Czechoslovakia and the
Dead Sea, where Selma sunk to the bottom when she attempted to float on her back. Patty and Selma have also brought home "souvenirs" from their vacations, including a pillowcase full of seashells from their trip to Sulfur Bay that they forced the family to help them clean and organize. They drove away Richard Dean Anderson by showing him slides of their trip to the
Remington Carriage Museum in
Cardston, Alberta. and have unsuccessfully tried to help Artie win her back. However, Marge made it clear to her sisters that she loves Homer and there is nothing they can do to change her mind. Homer usually tries to be polite to them out of respect for Marge, but Patty and Selma do not hide their contempt for him. They showed little concern when Homer suffered a heart attack. While he was undergoing bypass surgery, they tried to set Marge up with a sleazy man named Andre. They own a tombstone inscribed with the epitaph "Homer J. Simpson. We are richer for having lost him" and use it as a coffee table, stick pins in a voodoo doll which looks like Homer and even commissioned a billboard urging voters to evict Homer from Springfield. When Homer contemplated suicide, they encouraged him to go through with it and then pushed him off the bridge, though this was actually part of a plot by the townspeople to bring Homer to his surprise party on a cruise ship. Patty has also given stoner
Otto Mann a driver's license due to their mutual dislike for Homer, and both she and Selma deliberately failed Homer on his limousine driver's test, but their victory smoking nearly cost them their jobs until Homer intervened. They once kidnapped Homer before his and Marge's third wedding and imprisoned him in a cellar in the hope that Marge would find someone else. Moved to tears by his obvious devotion to Marge, they let him go and paid for their wedding ceremony to avoid being exposed by Bart and Lisa. For his part, Homer regards them as the "Gruesome Twosome" or "Fatty and Smellma" and was delighted when he (mistakenly) heard they had died. As children, Patty and Selma were apparently domineering towards Marge and ridiculed her ambition of becoming an astronaut. In return for their allowance, Marge used to do chores for them. The free time they now had led to them taking up smoking. As adults, the Bouvier twins have a friendly relationship with their sister and seem very protective of her thus frequently visit the Simpsons. They seem relatively fond of their nieces and nephew, but seem to like them more when they are young, as one of them remarks "The older they get, the cuter they ain't." On occasions, they babysit Bart, Lisa and Maggie, something not relished by the kids. Bart and Lisa were left traumatized when they had to stay with their aunts for a week while a stressed out Marge left for Rancho Relaxo. Maggie managed to take evasive action and got to stay with Homer instead.
Patty Bouvier Patricia Maleficent Bouvier (aka
Patricia Agatha Cruella Bouvier) is the younger of the two. Her decision to not have relationships has been implied to be due to her then closeted sexuality. Earlier hints of her closeted sexuality were also shown in some of the show's earlier episodes, when she was reluctant to date Principal Skinner in
Principal Charming; in
Treehouse of Horror III, on seeing Homer naked, she claimed the experience destroyed "the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality." Generally, Patty is more hostile to Homer than Selma. However, when Patty came out as a
lesbian, she found a surprising supporter in Homer (in contrast to Marge who was at first surprised and angry about it), and she swallowed her pride and asked him to perform her marriage ceremony. In one episode, where Patty stayed at the Simpson house during a fight with Selma despite Homer's reluctance, Patty privately admitted to Homer that she only mocks him because she is jealous of him having a successful marriage and family with Marge, while all she has is Selma, leaving Homer feeling grateful for her having opened, albeit briefly, a window of kindness.
Relationships Patty's only known relationship with a man involved
Principal Skinner. Patty was the character that fans most suspected would come out. Entertainment columnist
Ray Richmond credited Patty's coming out as a significant milestone for the
gay rights movement, as it proved that the movement was prominent enough to feature in an episode of a mainstream sitcom. she exclaimed (upon seeing Homer naked) "There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality"; she was seen hiding in a closet with
Smithers on a parade float during a gay pride parade. In another nod to Patty's sexuality being obvious, Homer
sarcastically quipped, "Here's another bomb for ya, Marge: I like beer!" when Marge was shocked at the revelation. Patty wooed a tenured professor from
Yale University away from her husband and has also been attracted to
Edna Krabappel.
Selma Bouvier Selma Bouvier is two minutes older than Patty. Due to a childhood bottle rocket accident, she has no sense of taste or smell. According to Marge, Selma "likes
Police Academy movies and
Hummel figurines, and walking through the park on clear autumn days." In contrast to her twin, Selma yearns for male companionship and children. She is also slightly more sympathetic towards Homer than Patty. Selma helped reunite Homer and Marge after seeing how upset Marge was without him, despite an agreement with Patty not to say anything. Homer was sympathetic to her when she broke down after a disastrous trip to Duff Gardens with Bart and Lisa, remarking "I just couldn't cut it today", referring to raising kids. During Homer and Marge's trial separation, when Marge went out on a date with someone else, Selma called Homer and offered to help him save their marriage, but was left frustrated when Homer mistook her for Patty over the phone. Unable to find companionship in a man, Selma has also sought to have children. At one point she considered using a
sperm donor which Homer mistakenly thought meant Selma would have sex with a robot. Much later, she adopted a Chinese baby girl,
Ling. During the adoption process, Selma pretended to be married to Homer, since the Chinese government only allows children to be adopted by married couples. After the fraud was exposed, Selma managed to keep the baby as a Chinese dignitary (voiced by
Lucy Liu), who had also been raised by a single parent, became sympathetic.
Relationships Despite being identical twins, Patty and Selma have very different track records when it comes to finding dates. According to Marge, Patty chose a life of
celibacy, while Selma had celibacy thrust upon her. Her standards are extremely low, as evidenced by her comments on
Mr. Burns: "Single? Well, he passes the Selma Test." Selma has actively sought out a husband, and has been married to six different men. Her current name has evolved into '''Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Stu-Simpson-D'Amico'''. Her first marriage, to
Robert "Sideshow Bob" Terwilliger, ended when his plan to kill her was foiled by Bart. she began dating
Troy McClure. They married, but she soon discovered it was just a sham to boost his flagging career. She told him she was unwilling to bring a baby into a loveless marriage and broke it off. Another unseen marriage was to
Disco Stu, which was annulled by the
Pope. For a time she dated
Abe Simpson, to the horror of Homer and Patty. Despite their objections, the two got married, but came to realize it would not work due to his age and her job, so they called it quits. Her most recent husband is
Fat Tony D'Amico, though he was already married and regarded Selma as his "
gumare". It has been implied that Selma had a second failed marriage to Sideshow Bob, giving her a total of seven marriages. and pitifully,
Barney Gumble. She was rejected by
Groundskeeper Willie, who upon seeing her dating video remarked "Back to the
Loch with you Nessie". ==Character==