Este Haim is six years older than her youngest sister Alana, but their age gap didn’t stop them from sisterly bonding activities, like going to 21+ venues when Alana was just 15 years old. And that’s in part thanks to Este’s procurement of a fake I.D. claiming her baby sis was actually 29.
“My parents knew about it,” Alana recalled in Haim’s 2022 Women of the Year cover profile featuring all three sisters (including middle sister Danielle) in conversation with Maya Rudolph. “They were like, ‘Yeah, we want you to go out with Este.’ They’d rather we were going with Este than my friends.”
Added Este: “Well, they knew that as a diabetic, I couldn’t drink.” The now 36-year-old said that she was considered the “mama bear” of the trio, a role many eldest children may recognize. “All the concerts were in the clubs that were 21 and older, so I was like, ‘No funny business. We’re here to see the music,’” she said.
There was one potential tell of Alana’s age, however: That adolescent rite of passage known as braces. “Este made me close my mouth,” said Alana. “I’d say something and she’d be like, ‘Do not open your mouth.’” A classic feel good story of sisters looking out for one another, you love to see it!
Ultimately, their less-than-legal hijinks led to a break of sorts. It was at one of these clubs that the sisters met Jenny Lewis, who was performing with her band Rilo Kiley. “We were huge Rilo Kiley fans,” noted Alana, “and we ended up going to some jam afterward. She was there, and she was like, ‘Who are you girls?’” From there, Danielle was asked to play with the band on tour, which she credits as a crash course in the music industry.
