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 longterm 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 Weekly about being each other's person. ELAINE HENDRIX & LISA ANN WALTER PHOTOGRAPHED BY PATRICK MAUS. HAIR BY DUSTIN OSBOURNE. MAKEUP BY ADAM CHRISTOPHER. STYLING BY KELLY JOHNSON/FORWARD, ASSISTED BY MARISSA PEREZ 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... LAW Elaine and I are both actors, so we access our emotions easily... We also have a rule that neither one of us can lose our s**t at the same time. Can you believe that? We trade off on who's falling apart. Was there a particular moment that cemented your friendship? LAW We wrote a script together early on in our relationship. We were close, but when we got done writing that script, we were one. It was a girl buddy movie when they weren't doing those. We were very much before the whole Bridesmaids. EH That was, like, right after Parent Trap. As a matter of fact, if anybody wants to fund it... Lisa Ann Walter Makes Cameo in BFF Elaine Hendrix's 'DWTS' Freestyle I hate to go dark, but my next question is... LAW What happens when one of you dies? I haven't thought about it. She's a lot younger than me... EH I was gonna say, in the natural order of things, Lisa is gonna go first. LAW Oh my god, I'm going to cry. Thanks a lot. EH You have four kids, so... LAW I do, but I really think you should be my... what do they call that? EH The tiebreaker? Next of kin? LAW No, not next of kin. No, when you have the legal... EH Power of attorney? LAW Power of attorney. I think that should be you. Everybody else would be like, "How much is in the will?" You wouldn't do that. EH Of course, she's my emergency contact on, like, all my medical stuff... LAW You've got to talk about the stuff that matters to you. Not just, "What's going to happen to my stuff?" but like, "Do you want to be cremated or not cremated?" EH What do I want to be? LAW Cremated. EH Or... LAW Buried next to a tree with your dogs? EH Well, in a tree, but yes. They bury people in trees, like in the roots. LAW I'm glad that we're doing this interview so that we could cement this. I just want to be cremated and separated out a little bit, and some of it could be on the counter, like in the kitchen, where I keep my mom. And then some should be at your house. But I don't want it scattered. Don't scatter my damn ashes. EH I'm not scattering them, you're coming with me! PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK MAUS Are there moments that stand out when you've been each other's rock? LAW When Elaine's mom passed. She called me and was brokenhearted, as I was when I lost my mom a few years ago. I think families can be difficult when somebody really close passes. Elaine called me so that I could tell her, "You're not alone." EH It meant everything. I say that equally about losing my mom as I do about having her at Dancing With the Stars and as her helping me move seven times. LAW The person that you know will never, ever let you down. That's one of the things that really came out during Dancing: We both have had people that we've loved in our lives, you know, male partners, and not saying it'll never happen again, but I don't ever have to worry that she'll fall out of love with me. I don't ever have to worry that she'll leave me. She might get mad, but I'm not going to lose her. Any other ways in which you've stepped in and helped each other? LAW I have four kids, and they're wonderful. We had a time back when one was having a really rough time, and emotionally, he had a situation with his dad and wasn't seeing him anymore. I had to be Mom and Dad, and it was tough. One time he was going off on me, and Elaine snapped him like a bug. She grabbed him. She was like, "That's enough." Being a single mom's tough, and sometimes the reason why is because when there isn't a second person in the house to say, "Don't talk to you