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A woman has revealed how she handles dating as conjoined twins, joking that her sister is a bad “wing woman.”
Mecixo-born Carmen and Lupita Andrade, 21, answered a series of questions on an Ask Me Anything YouTube video about intimacy, their hobbies and education, the “inappropriate” comments they receive and their future marriage plans.
The girls, who have lived in Connecticut since they were two years old, are strapped along their chest walls up to their pelvis where their spines meet.
They have two arms, but only one leg each, with Carmen controlling the right leg and Lupita controlling the left leg.
The sisters, who are expected to survive just three days after their birth in 2002, have been told their separation could lead to their death or years of intensive care.
So they chose to stay together and have expertly adapted to life with each other – including how to navigate life now that Carmen has a boyfriend.
Carmen (left) and Lupita Andrade, 21, of Connecticut, are strapped along their chest walls up to their pelvis where their spines meet
Lupita (left) and Carmen said they don’t see themselves as disabled and believe disability is just a state of mind
Dating has been a “learning process for everyone,” according to Carmen, who has been dating her current boyfriend for “a year and a half,” though she didn’t name him or share a photo.
She told the cameras that her partner looks like a close friend and that her new relationship “wasn’t intimate in that way, and he thinks that’s okay.’
The couple met on the dating app Hinge, which aims to match compatible people for a serious relationship.
Carmen said she was “transparent” about her condition, but admitted she found it “very uncomfortable” to show on her profile that she was conjoined twins.
Carmen (with glasses) and Lupita (with headband) spoke to the cameras about their hobbies, education and relationships
Shortly after their birth, medical experts thought the couple would only live for three days: Photo: The girls as children with model Tyra Banks
However, her twin sister Lupita sees dating very differently after admitting she is ‘asexual and aromatic’.
Carmen said, “I clearly intended to be transparent about everything… It was a learning process for everyone. Of course we had to have a discussion about which boundaries are good and which are not.’
The 21-year-old poked fun at her sister for being a bad wingwoman, which Lupita chimed in, saying she was “fooling them both.”
The girls have two arms, but only one leg, with Carmen controlling the right leg and Lupita controlling the left
Carmen (pictured left) said dating was a ‘learning process for everyone, but she found a boyfriend through the mobile app Hinge and has been dating him for a year and a half’
Carmen said marriage wasn’t at the forefront of her mind because she’s “just 21,” but admitted she’d rather be “life partners than a real marriage.”
The two claimed they were inappropriately “fetishized” about the idea that someone’s “having sex with two people at the same time’.
Neither of them see themselves as disabled either – after admitting that it’s only “a disability if you make it a handicap.”
When Lupita and Carmen were young, they spent years in physical therapy learning to sit and work together to use their legs and when they were four years old, they took their first steps together.
Doctors considered separating them, but concluded that it couldn’t be done safely because they shared too many vital organs and their lower backs.
When asked earlier if they ever wanted to be separated, both said no, because even if the surgery went well, they would still have years of physical therapy ahead of them.
“And then there’s the whole psychological situation because we’re so used to being together,” Carmen said. “I don’t think it makes sense.”
When there was talk of a divorce operation, Lupita and Carmen asked their mother, “Why would you want to cut us in half?”
However, Lupita suffers from scoliosis (a sideways curvature of the spine), which causes her lungs to cramp.
Doctors say she may need surgery to remove part of her spine, or start using an oxygen tank as an alternative.
While scoliosis surgery can be a relatively simple procedure, that is not the case with conjoined twins.
There is a high risk of death or brain damage for Lupita.