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Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel have given answers after being asked questions everyone wants to know

Home> Life> True Life

Updated 14:49 8 Jul 2024 GMT+1Published 21:34 4 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel have given answers after being asked questions everyone wants to know

Abby and Brittany Hensel have opened up about their lives

Rhianna Benson

Rhianna Benson

Ever since conjoined twin Abby Hensel married long-term boyfriend Josh Bowling, she and her sister Brittany have been inundated with questions surrounding the dynamic of their relationship.

For those unfamiliar with the 1990 US-born twins, the pair first shot to fame after fronting their very own TLC series, before going on to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where they opened up about the ins and outs of their life together.

In the years that followed, they went on to live a pretty low-key life - attending university, getting jobs as primary school teachers and falling in love.

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Despite their lives resembling the 'normality' of those living among them, Abby and Brittany are often left troubled by the comments they receive on social media about their rare condition.

While, however, they boast a zero tolerance attitude to trolling, they do welcome questions from those intrigued about their daily workings, specially having been inundated with relationship inquiries since news emerged that Abby had tied the knot in 2021.

"Having only the one guy makes it more confusing. What if they fight? What if one h/w set wants to divorce and the other doesn't?" one person questioned.

"One of the twins will be the legal spouse as far as the state is concerned. So it is theoretically possible that the other twin could someday decide to marry a different person," a Redditor suggested.

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"But given the way they have had to harmonise their entire lives, I imagine they would find it easier to stick to being married to just one person."

Abby and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins. (YouTube/OMG Stories)
Abby and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins. (YouTube/OMG Stories)

The pair also revealed how they go about their daily lives.

The twins' job and education

Despite their fame, Abby and Brittany went on to obtain separate degrees from Bethel University and are elementary school teachers in their local town - with one salary between them.

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Abby told the BBC: "Obviously right away we understand that we are going to get one salary because we're doing the job of one person.

"As maybe experience comes in we'd like to negotiate a little bit, considering we have two degrees and because we are able to give two different perspectives or teach in two different ways."

Brittany added: “One can be teaching and one can be monitoring and answering questions. So in that sense we can do more than one person."

How does their body work?

As dicephalus conjoined twins, the women have separate hearts and heads but share essentially everything else.

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Abby and Brittany are currently fifth-grade teachers. (TikTok/@abbyandbrittanyhensel)
Abby and Brittany are currently fifth-grade teachers. (TikTok/@abbyandbrittanyhensel)

Abby controls the right arm and leg of the body, while Brittany controls the left, but it doesn’t mean they have to do everything together.

How do they eat their meals?

In fact, when it comes to eating, the pair will sometimes have separate meals, and they actually have two digestive systems and two separate stomachs, but share the same bladder and excretion system, which means eating one meal between them more convenient.

Can the twins drive a car?

To answer questions about their ability to drive, they explained that they passed their test on their 16th birthday as Brittany said: "Abby takes over the pedals and the shifter, we both steer, and I take over the blinker and the lights."

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Their mother, Patty, added: "I don't know what would happen if they got pulled over for speeding.

"Would they each get a ticket or just Abby because it's her foot on the accelerator?"

Abby tied the knot back in 2021. (TikTok/@abbyandbrittanyhensel)
Abby tied the knot back in 2021. (TikTok/@abbyandbrittanyhensel)

Can they have kids?

More personal questions also slipped through as people wondered whether they could have children.

"That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them," Patty explained in Joined For Life.

"Yeah, we're going to be moms," Brittany agreed.

She added: "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."

Featured Image Credit: Channel 5/TLC

Topics: Real Life, Life, True Life, Health

Rhianna Benson
Rhianna Benson

Rhianna is an Entertainment Journalist at LADbible Group, working across LADbible, UNILAD and Tyla. She has a Masters in News Journalism from the University of Salford and a Masters in Ancient History from the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked as a Celebrity Reporter for OK! and New Magazines, and as a TV Writer for Reach PLC.

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@rhiannaBjourno

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