The INSIDER Summary:Heidi Agan used to be a waitress. Now she's a professional Kate Middleton lookalike.The job has its downsides, including mean Internet trolls.But it also has major perks ' sometimes she gets the real royal treatment.Heidi Agan wasn't the first torealize how much she looks like Kate Middleton. The customers she served as a waitress figured it out before she did.Back in 2011, when Prince William's impending wedding to Middleton was making news all over the world, Agan was earning around $10 an hour serving at a chain Italian place in the UK, supporting her two children as a single mother. Customers were persistent about her resemblance to the soon-to-be royal, and soon, she sent a few head shots to a talent agency.Two months later she was able to quitwaitressing outright to work as a professional Kate lookalike."Iwas really lucky with the way things worked out and probably never would have got into this line of work if I hadn't been a waitress in the first place," Agan told INSIDER. "It was the customers who got me into being a Katelookalike."Since then, Agan has appeared in TV and print media and mingled with guests corporate eventsand parties. The lookalike industry isn't exactly a thing here in the United States, Agan said, which contributes to Americans' fascination with her job. But in Europe, Australia and China, where lookalikes are a regularfeature at events, job opportunities are plentiful ' and Agan is taking advantage of a very lucky coincidence in her looks.Aganreallylooks like Kate Middleton.There's a reason she's billed as the "official" Kate double. In a world filled withof so-so lookalikes (remember that disastrous reality show "I Wanna Marry Harry'"), Agan simplylooks a lot like the realDuchess of Cambridge.Back in 2012 she told the Daily Mail that her then-3-year-old daughter would point to photos of Middleton in magazines and say, "There you are, mummy."Unsurprisingly, strangersmistake her for the real thing all the time ' at least until they get close."It can happen every day," Agan said. "You'll see people point at you and whisper, you'll see people come up to you excited and then you'll see the realization change on their face [...] It's something that was strange at first but now it's just wonderful."Being a lookalike has its uncomfortable moments.On a more horrifying note: Agan has dealtwith an army of Internet trolls and creeps. Some havelashed outjust because they don't like the real royal family.Others have asked for photos of her feet to indulge Kate Middleton'related foot fetishes, according to a 2015 report in the Telegraph."I've had death wishes [...] just all kinds of stuff. And you have to learn so quickly to become really thick skinned," she said. "Everybody has an opinion and that's okay.But there are upsides to the lookalike lifestyle."I went to Prague and had a police escort and my hotel room was the penthouse at every hotel we went to. In certain aspects you do actually get treated like royalty for a few days," Agansaid. "And then you come home and you're wiping your kid's nose again."Actually, coming home to her kids (nose wiping aside) is another major perk of the job. Though she declined to say how much she charges for her services, she said that being a lookalike has afforded her a moreflexible schedule."For me it was more a lifestyle change than it was a financial change," she explained. "The finances are wonderful when they happen, but I don't have to send my kids to daycare anymore. I can pick and choose when I work. And so for our family that has been incredible."This is more than just a series of gigs ' it's a career for the long haul.Agan is poised to havelong and lucrative career as a lookalike. Since she's roughly the same age as Kate (now 35), she'll likelycontinue to resemble the duchess in the decades to come. Agan alsopays serious attention to detail. Her performances come withextra effortthat sets her apartfrom competitors. (Believe us'there are tons.)"It's important to me that I give the whole experience, even if it's down to the perfume she wears. I do dedicate a lot of time to make sure that I can be the best and people can look at me and momentarily forget that they hired me to be at their event," she said. "That's the whole point really."Read more about the lives of professional royal lookalikes here.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Angelina Jolie has a 21-year-old lookalike
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