The truth behind conjoined twins Brittany and Abby Hensel’s unique love life: Siblings spark pregnancy rumours despite one being married and the other single

Conjoined twins Abbey and Brittany Hensel have a unique love life.

The mystery surrounding the Hensel sisters, 35, from Minnesota, and their romantic life thickened when they were spotted holding a newborn baby last week, sparking speculation that they have fulfilled their public vow: ‘We are going to be moms one day.’

In 1996, the twins, born with a rare condition called dicephalic parapagus, captivated the world with their remarkable story after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the cover of Life Magazine.

The fascination has largely continued today, with one aspect of their lives particularly piquing the interest of their fans and followers – the inner workings of their extraordinary love life.

In 2021, their relationship was put under the spotlight when Abby married U.S. Army veteran Joshua Bowling, with many speculating what that meant for Brittany.

While some assumed that if Abby was legally married to Joshua, Brittany would be too, their marriage certificate, as obtained by TMZ, tells a different story, with the document declaring the marriage of just Abby and Joshua.

Then, in June, Joshua appeared to confirm speculation that he might have a new child on the way after he shared an image of a baby mat in a box on X, suggesting he might have been preparing for the little one’s arrival.

So, while Abby is married and Brittany is single and there might be a newborn involved, just how do their personal love lives work?

They’re conjoined twins, but Abby and Brittany Hensel from Minnesota enjoy different love lives, with the former married to U.S. Army veteran Joshua Bowling (pictured together)

Abby and her sister Brittany, one of only a few sets of dicephalus twins in history to survive infancy, rose to fame on their eponymous TLC show that chronicled their major life events, including high school graduation and job hunting.

Last year, the pair were back in the spotlight after it emerged that Abby secretly married nurse and Army veteran Josh Bowling in 2021, according to public records obtained by Today, which made her stepmother to Josh’s daughter, Isabella.

Now, the conjoined twins have sparked pregnancy rumours after being spotted holding a newborn baby while out and about – a happening that the pair’s mother previously predicted in a documentary.

But when the Hensel twins were born on March 7, 1990, doctors warned their parents, Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike, a carpenter and landscaper, that they were unlikely to survive the night.

It was a claim proved wildly wrong. From starring in their reality TV show to forming relationships, Abby and Brittany have achieved an incredible amount in the past 35 years.

The Hensel twins are the rarest form of conjoined twins, the result of a single fertilised egg failing to fully separate in the womb.

They have two spines (which join at the pelvis), two hearts, two oesophagi, two stomachs, three kidneys, two gall bladders, four lungs (two of which are joined), one liver, one ribcage, a shared circulatory system, and partially shared nervous systems.

From the waist down, all organs, including the intestine, bladder, and reproductive organs, are shared.

The twins captivated TikTok viewers in 2021 after sharing photographs from Abby and Joshua’s wedding

Now, the trio have sparked pregnancy rumours after the twins were spotted carrying a newborn baby last week

Abby and Brittany are pictured holding their separate birthday cakes when they celebrated their 22nd birthday

Joshua seemingly confirmed that there might have been a newborn on the way after sharing a picture of a baby item on X in June

Abby and Brittany were snapped carrying a newborn baby in a car seat and placing the infant into the back of a black Tesla at a parking lot in Arden Hills, Minnesota last Thursday

Can conjoined twins have children?

Conjoined twins are exceptionally rare, with less than one in 100,000 births.

Female conjoined twins are even more rare and in many cases, the twins don’t survive infancy.

As such, there is only in only one case were pregnancy and delivery successfully achieved by the conjoined twins themselves, according to the US National Library of Medicine.

Rosa and Josepha Blažek, born in Skrejšov, Bohemia in 1878, were joined at the posterior, and in 1909, Rosa had a son.

In 2023, a formerly conjoined twin gave birth where she and her sister were surgically separated as babies over two decades ago.

Charity Lincoln Gutierrez-Vazquez and her twin sister Kathleen were attached from the breastbone to the pelvis when they were born in 2000. The sisters, who each had one leg, shared several internal organs and a third fused leg.

When they were seven months old, they were successfully separated by a team of nearly 30 doctors, nurses, and support staff at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle during a dangerous 31-hour surgery.

Twenty-one years later, Charity welcomed her baby girl, Alora, at the same hospital via cesarean section.

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

Just one set of twins in every 40,000 is born connected in some way to each other and only one per cent of those survive beyond the first year.

The twins, who have their own birth certificates and passports, were raised Christian by their parents, a nurse and a carpenter and are now fifth grade math teachers at an elementary school in New Brighton, Minnesota, where they were born and raised.

Before the pair became seriously romantically involved with anyone, their mother revealed that they were keen to have children of their own one day.

Patty explained in a documentary: ‘[It] is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them.’

‘Yeah, we’re going to be moms,’ Brittany agreed.

In another interview, Brittany reiterated their desire to have families of their own, saying: ‘The whole world doesn’t need to know who we are seeing, what we are doing and when we are going to do it.

‘But believe me, we are totally different people.’

In a 2001 interview with Time, the twins’ father Mike said his daughters had already then asked about finding husbands one day.

Knowing that other conjoined twins have married, he explained, why not? ‘They’re good-looking girls. They’re witty. They’ve got everything going for them, except they’re together,’ he added.

He was right, and Abby’s relationship with Josh, who is a father-of-one, became public in March last year, when they announced their wedding.

On TikTok account @abbyandbrittanyhensel, a clip revealed insight into Abby’s wedding day – and a Facebook account titled Britt And Abby also featured a picture of the happy couple.

Abby and Brittany even had their own TLC show that chronicled their major life events, including high school graduation and job hunting

The ultra-rare siblings, 35, from Minnesota, are one of only a few sets of dicephalic twins in history

Abby and Brittany have two heads, two brains, two spinal cords, and two hearts, which are part of a shared circulatory system

Twins Abby and Brittany share a single body from the waist down, including their reproductive organs

The conjoined twins had to each take a driving test, which they both passed, and work as a team to get from A to B

For the ceremony, the twins sported a sleeveless wedding dress with lace trim detailing while the groom wore a grey suit.

A video thought to have been captured by one of their guests and shared on social media showed the twins and the groom enjoying a dance during the big day.

Another showed Josh’s daughter sporting a floral bridesmaid’s dress and walking down the aisle, holding a sign that read: ‘Daddy… Here Comes Your Bride’.

It’s likely the father-of-one, who works with hospice patients, and the twins live with one another, with Josh’s Facebook page showing the family – including his young daughter – enjoying hikes in nature, ice cream and dressing up for Halloween.

Josh served as an Army medic with the 1st Cavalry in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

He told the publication in 2021: ‘I dealt with a lot of death and dying – the bad version of it’.

The father-of-one added that becoming a nurse ‘felt like a calling’ because he wanted to give people a peaceful death, as opposed to those he witnessed at war.

While Abby and Joshua made their relationship public, Brittany has kept her romantic life out of the spotlight.

Brittany said in a past interview: ‘The whole world doesn’t need to know who we are seeing, what we are doing and when we are going to do it.

‘But believe me, we are totally different people.’

However, Abby and Josh have now sparked pregnancy rumours after posting a clip on their TikTok account, which has over 303,000 followers.

The video, which has garnered over 36,000 views, shared a series of ‘breaking news’ headlines.

Each headline read something different, with the most notable being, ‘This is so tragic’ and ‘What if one of them dies?’

The final headline revealed: ‘Married and baby on the way.’

The 30-second clip, which was shared without a caption, left fans questioning if the twins were pregnant.

After seeing the TikTok clip, fans took to the comment section to congratulate the pair, with one person saying: ‘Congratulations on the upcoming baby announcement!’

Another user commented: ‘Congratulations!’ A third wrote: ‘Congratulations on being pregnant. You will make great mums.’

Now, their plans might have just come true after photographers captured Abby and Brittany carrying a newborn baby in a car seat and placing the infant into the back of a black Tesla at a parking lot in Arden Hills, Minnesota on Thursday last week.

However, it is not clear who would be the legal mother and if there would be complications with carrying a baby. It is also a possibility that the pair may have used a surrogate or adopted, if the baby is theirs.

How conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel defied 1 per cent chance of survival: Pair who share a body and major organs are the only female twins in the world with their condition

Conjoined twins occur when siblings have their skin or internal organs fused together.

Just one set of twins in every 40,000 is born connected in some way to each other and only 1 per cent of those survive beyond the first year.

Conjoined twins are caused by a fertilised egg beginning 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.

Separation surgery success depends on where the twins are joined. Doctors can only tell which organs the siblings share, and therefore plan surgery, after they are born. At least one twin survives 75 per cent of the time.

The most famous pair of conjoined twins was Chang and Eng Bunker, who were born in 1811 and travelled 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 fertilised egg which failed to separate properly in the womb, resulting in dicephalic parapagus – where the twins have two heads and a single body with two arms and two legs.

From the waist down, all organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.

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

Although Brittany – the left twin – can’t feel anything on the right side of the body and Abigail – the right twin – can’t feel anything on her left, instinctively their limbs move as if co-ordinated by one person, even when typing e-mails on the computer.

It is rare for twins conjoined the way that Abby and Brittany are to survive into adulthood, but despite this they are in good health, without heart defects or organ failure.

There is only one of set of twins living in the world with the same condition – brothers Ayşe and Sema Tanrıkulu who were born in Turkey in 2000.