FRIENDS till THE END

Ever since meeting on The Parent Trap, Elaine Hendrix and Lisa Ann Walter have been #FriendshipGoals. The besties talk to Us about their sacred sisterhood

- by CARLA SOSENKO and AMANDA WILLIAMS

"I was quitting the business every third month. You were too," Walter (far right) says to Hendrix about navigating low career moments together. "That's when we came up with the rule that we couldn't both quit the business at the same time."

When Lisa Ann Walter and Elaine Hendrix sat side-by-side in the waiting room for their Parent Trap screen tests in 1997, they couldn't have predicted what would happen next. The film — a remake of the 1961 sister-swap classic, starring a promising child actor named Lindsay Lohan — was a box office stunner with multigenerational cultural impact. But more important, it brought together two people who seemed predestined to be friends. Ever since, they've been there to pick each other up when they're down and root each other on when they're up. Most recently (and iconically), Abbott Elementary star Walter, 62, joined Dancing With the Stars contestant Hendrix, 55, and her pro partner, Alan Bersten, for a foxtrot à trois in October. “One of the things that is really gratifying about our long-term relationship is people responding to it,” says Walter. “This is not new. We didn't invent grown-ass female friendship. It's necessary.” The two talked to Us about being each other's person.

How do you two define your bond?

Elaine Hendrix Sisters.

Lisa Ann Walter Soulmates.

EH Married without the romance.

LAW [Laughing] So like a long-term married couple...

EH A best friend who will help you move a body.

When did you realize there was a connection?

EH I think from the beginning. We just got together and talked, talked, talked...