Abby Hensel is married! Conjoined twin who rose to fame in reality show Abby & Brittany secretly tied the knot with an army veteran in 2021

Australia
By William

By Zeenia Naqvee

Published: | Updated:

One of America’s most famous conjoined twins has been secretly married for three years.

According to public data obtained by TODAYAbby Hensel, now 34, from Minnesota, married Josh Bowling, a nurse and Army veteran, in 2021.

It is believed that Abby and her sister Brittany are one of the few dicephalus twins in history who survived childhood and rose to fame on their eponymous TLC show that chronicled their major life events, including their high school graduation and job search .

The pair are joined at the base of the spine and from the waist down all their organs, including the intestines, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.

Abby’s relationship with Josh, who is a father-of-one, has flown under the radar until now, with the twins living a quieter life away from the spotlight for the past decade.

Abby Hensel, now 34, married nurse and former US veteran Josh Bowling in 2021

On TikTok account @abbyandbrittanyhensela clip was recently posted showing Abby’s big day – and a Facebook account titled Britt And Abby also featured a image of the happy couple.

For the ceremony, details of which were revealed, took place in 2021, the twins wore a sleeveless wedding dress with lace details, while the groom wore a gray suit.

According to TODAY, the pair are now both fifth-grade teachers. They live in Minnesota, where they were born and raised by their parents, a nurse and a carpenter.

They first captivated the world in 1996 when they appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and on the cover of Life Magazine.

What are Conjoined Twins?

Conjoined twins occur when the skin or internal organs of siblings are fused together.

It affects about one in 200,000 live births.

Conjoined twins are caused when a fertilized egg begins to split into two embryos a few weeks after conception, but the process stops before it is complete.

The most common type is twins joined at the chest or abdomen.

The success of separation surgery depends on where the twins are joined.

Doctors can only tell which organs the siblings share and therefore schedule surgery after they are born.

At least one twin survives 75 percent of the time.

The most famous conjoined twin pair was Chang and Eng Bunker, born in 1811 and traveling with PT Barnum’s circus. They were born in Siam and were known as the Siamese twins.

The Hensel girls are the rarest form of conjoined twins, the result of a single fertilized egg that is not properly separated in the womb, resulting in dicephalic parapagus – where the twins have two heads and one body with two arms and two legs.

They have two spines (which meet at the pelvis), two hearts, two esophagus, two stomachs, three kidneys, two gall bladders, four lungs (two of which are connected), one liver, one rib cage, a shared circulatory system and partially shared nervous systems.

From the waist down, all organs, including the intestines, bladder and reproductive organs, are divided.

While they were born with three arms, one was surgically removed.

Although Brittany – the left twin – cannot feel anything on the right side of the body and Abigail – the right twin – cannot feel anything on her left side, their limbs move instinctively as if coordinated by one person, even when typing emails on the computer.

It is rare for twins as conjoined as Abby and Brittany to survive into adulthood, but nevertheless they are in good health, with no heart defects or organ failure.

They then lived a quiet, normal life with their family in Minnesota, keeping out of the media spotlight until they agreed to appear in a documentary for TLC at the age of 16.

When the Hensel twins were born in Minnesota on March 7, 1990, doctors warned their parents Patty and Mike that they were unlikely to survive the night. But that prediction would turn out to be completely wrong.

They also amazed the doctors with their amazing coordination while playing the piano, with Abigail taking on the right hand and Brittany on the left.

Growing up, they enjoyed sports such as bowling, volleyball, cycling, softball and swimming.

Here's Abby stunning in a floor-length white dress on her wedding day

Here’s Abby stunning in a floor-length white dress on her wedding day

And on their 16th birthday they passed their driving test, an astonishing feat of teamwork in which each twin used one arm to operate the steering wheel.

Their mother Patty, a nurse, admitted at the time that this could have been a problem.

She said: “I don’t know what would happen if they were stopped for speeding. Would they all get a ticket or just Abby because it’s her foot on the accelerator?’

Yet parents Patty and Mike never considered separating the twins because of the risk that both would die or be left with such severe disabilities that their quality of life would be compromised.

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