This Guy ‘Looks Nothing Like’ His Hollywood Twin Brother Who Wanted to Give Him His Heart When He Had Weeks to Live

• Unlike his famous twin brother, who is a celebrated television and movie actor, this guy has steered clear of the Hollywood limelight.
• Despite growing up together, he and his fraternal twin brother grew apart due to jealousy but eventually mended their relationship.
• When this guy faced a serious health scare and was told he had mere weeks to live, his famous brother offered to give him his heart.

This guy was bonded to his brother from the very beginning as they both entered the world as fraternal twins. However, nobody knew how different their fates would be: while one of them ended up making a name for himself in show business, the other struggled with major health issues, which began at his birth.

Unlike his famous brother who was born healthy, this man not only looked visibly smaller but also struggled to pull through because he was hardly responsive and had trouble taking his first breath. It wasn't long before his family realized that he had special needs.

Despite being born and raised together, he and his brother forged different life paths. In his early teens, this guy received another heartbreaking diagnosis, which proved life-threatening. It was then that his twin brother stepped up, offering to donate his own organ to save his life.

Years after surviving his health ordeal, he and his brother grew apart due to jealousy. However, the guy decided to harbor no ill will toward his twin sibling after realizing he had always meant well for him. Today, instead of staying mute about his health journey, this guy takes pride in being himself and proudly advocates for other people with special needs.

Unveiling the Guy's Name

The guy we're referring to is Michael Kutcher, the fraternal twin brother of Christopher Ashton Kutcher. Both siblings were born on February 7, 1978, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with Michael undergoing the first of his multiple challenges right at birth. While his brother has led an eventful life and was once considered one of the sexiest men alive, not many know about Michael's existence.

He was informed he had only three to four weeks to live and needed a heart transplant to survive.

Although Michael was born five minutes after Ashton, the twin brothers have many more differences than similarities. In an exclusive interview from December 2019, Michael explained he was the "unexpected twin" and astonished his parents, Diane and Larry, with his arrival. He shared that his mom wasn't expecting to have twins and was shocked when the doctors told her she was having two babies instead of one.

Ashton weighed 11 pounds at birth, but his brother's weight was merely 4 pounds. Moreover, he had underdeveloped lungs. This was just the beginning of Michael's health problems.

Michael noted how his mom, an area education teacher, was extremely vigilant of his health and saw that he wasn't developing and gaining weight like his brother. "My mom noticed I was having developmental difficulties and not advancing like my twin was," he revealed.

When the twins turned three, Diane learned why one of them was slower than the other. It all started making sense when the doctors diagnosed Michael with cerebral palsy, a motor disability that affects movement and hinders one's ability to maintain posture. It is usually diagnosed during childhood.

At home, Michael experienced inclusion, love, and care, not just from his parents but also from his siblings, including his older sister Tausha Kutcher. Despite his disability, his family never viewed or treated him any differently from his brother and sister. Their unwavering support became his guiding star, giving him the strength to push through on his difficult days.

Michael's Relationship with His Twin Brother

Unfortunately, Michael faced a lot of bullying from the outside world because of his condition. While growing up, other kids his age called him names, but he felt grateful to have his brother by his side.

Ashton loved Michael and always supported him whenever other kids bullied him. In an interview, Michael recalled what happened when a group of children started bullying him while he and Ashton were riding bikes:

"My brother picked a fight with them. He stood up for me. He wanted them to treat me with respect."

On another occasion in August 2019, Michael related a story from their childhood where he and Ashton were playing basketball together. After scoring a successful right-handed backboard shot, the "Your Place or Mine" actor, then 10, passed the ball to his brother.

Michael made the one-handed backboard shot with his left hand instead of his right. However, his brother refused to consider it and told him he couldn't shoot the ball with his left hand. Leaving the game, Michael went and sat on the railroad tires nearby, feeling gloomy.

He then told Ashton that he wasn't being fair to him, especially after knowing that he couldn't make that shot with his right hand because he had limited mobility on his right side due to CP. What Ashton said to his brother at that moment has stayed with him all his life. Michael recalled:

"[Ashton] says, 'Are you just going to sit there and do nothing, just blame this for the rest of your life? I can't make that shot for you. Mom certainly isn't going to come out here and make that shot for you. You're the only one that can put that ball in the hoop. You're the only one that can make that shot.'"

Michael's Health Ordeal and His Brother's Role

When the twins were in eighth grade, Michael faced another health complication that made Ashton feel helpless because he could do nothing to make his brother feel better. When he was 13, Michael was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy—a life-threatening heart condition caused by a virus where his heart became four times larger than a normal one.

He was informed he had only three to four weeks to live and needed a heart transplant to survive. Soon afterward, Michael suffered cardiac arrest and his life expectancy decreased to merely 48 hours.

At that time, Ashton told his parents he would donate his heart to save his brother's life, but fate gave Michael a second chance at life when they found a donor and he got a transplant. Two years later, Michael underwent heart surgery because of a blood clot.

While Michael struggled with his health, his brother lived a healthy life and rose to fame because of his good looks and acting skills. Watching his brother become popular, Michael didn't wish to tell the world about his cerebral palsy.

He didn't want people to look at him with pity because of his condition. Unaware of Michael's plans to keep his condition a secret, Ashton spoke about it in a 2003 interview, which caused a rift between the brothers. Ashton said:

"I didn't know I was outing him because I didn't know it was a secret."

When Ashton publicly spoke about his brother's cerebral palsy, Michael was "very angry." He said he "didn't want to be the face of CP" but later realized Ashton had done him a favor.

Besides this incident, something else strained the Kutcher brothers' relationship. "Jealousy, at least on my part," Michael confessed. Meanwhile, Ashton had only one question in his mind when he compared his life with Michael's:

"How do I get to be this lucky?"

After the 2003 interview created a rift between the brothers, Michael received a call from an unknown woman asking him if he would like to talk about his condition publicly. Feeling unsure, Michael met the woman to discuss the opportunity and returned home with a changed mindset.

During the meeting, Michael met the woman's daughter with cerebral palsy. After seeing that the little girl couldn't talk because of her condition, he realized he could raise his voice for people like her. He said:

"I was finally ready to tell my story, and I knew because of my twin, I'd have a big reach."

After experiencing so many health problems, Michael now lives in Colorado with his wife and children. He isn't angry at his twin anymore. Instead, he believes his brother helped him come to terms with his reality by speaking about his condition publicly.

Despite struggling with hearing, eyesight, slightly slurred speech, and dexterity issues, Michael has come quite far in his life. Today, people don't just know him as Ashton's twin brother but are also aware of his remarkable life journey. In fact, many who have seen Michael think that he doesn't resemble Ashton at all, saying he "looks nothing like" his Hollywood twin sibling.

Now, Michael works for people with cerebral palsy as the spokesperson for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Besides that, he is an advisor for an app called "Joshin," which helps people with disabilities.