An American teacher who shot to fame on a reality TV series with her conjoined twin quietly married three years ago – 28 years after captivating the world with an appearance on Oprah.
Abby Hensel, now 34, from Minnesota, tied the knot with Josh Bowling, 33, a nurse and army veteran in 2021, according to public records obtained by TODAY.
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 which chronicled their major life events, including their high school graduation and job hunting.
The pair share a single body, and from the waist down, all their organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.
In a documentary filmed when the girls were teenagers, their mother said they were keen to have children of their own one day, explaining: ‘That 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.’
Abby added: ‘Yeah, we are going to be moms one day, but we don’t want to talk about how it’s going to work yet.’
Abby’s relationship with Josh, who is a father-of-one, has gone under the radar until now, with the twins leading a quieter life out of the spotlight in the past 10 years.
They have always shut down speculation about their private life and a decade ago, they dismissed a rumor that Brittany was engaged as a ‘dumb joke’, but even as teenagers they spoke about wanting to have children.
‘People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons,’ the twins said in the first episode of their eight-part series, according to ABC News. ‘But our parents never let us use that as an excuse. We were raised to believe we could do anything we wanted to do.’
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.
On TikTok account @abbyandbrittanyhensel, a clip was recently posted showing off Abby’s wedding day – and a Facebook account titled Britt And Abby also featured a picture of the happy couple.
For the ceremony, which records revealed took place back in 2021, 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.
The twins, who have their own birth certificates and passports, were raised Christian by their parents, a nurse and a carpenter.
Abby and Brittany are now both fifth grade math teachers at an elementary school in New Brighton, Minnesota, where they were born and raised.
‘Obviously, right away, we understand that we are going to get one salary because we’re doing the job of one person,’ Abby previously said.
‘One can be teaching and one can be monitoring and answering questions,’ added Brittany. ‘So in that sense we can do more than one person.’ The twins also have two teaching licenses.
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.
Abby and Brittany first captivated the world in 1996 when they appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the cover of Life Magazine.
They then lived a quiet, normal life with their family, keeping away from the media spotlight until they agreed to appear on a documentary for TLC when they turned 16.
When the Hensel twins were born on March 7, 1990, doctors warned their parents Patty and Mike that they were unlikely to survive the night. But that prediction was to prove wildly wrong.
They also stunned doctors with their astonishing co-ordination while playing the piano and sports. Each has control over one side of the body, with Abby controlling the right hand side and Brittany the left, according to the BBC.
‘When it comes to decisions, there are compromises we have to make,’ Abby said when discussing the twins’ co-ordination on their show. ‘We take turns. We want to work it so each of us is happy and we find a happy medium.’
In their documentary, Brittany added: ‘We usually bargain with each other, like “if you do this, I’ll give you that”.’
Growing up, they enjoyed sports such as bowling, volleyball, cycling, softball and swimming.
And on their 16th birthday they passed their driving test, a mind-boggling feat of teamwork with each twin using one arm to control the steering wheel.
Speaking at the time, their mother Patty, a registered nurse, conceded that could have been a problem.
She said: ‘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?’
Though the pair share many organs, they experience separate hungers and separate urges to urinate and sleep. Their nervous systems are also distinct, according to Time.
The publication explained how if Abby is tickled on her side, Brittany can’t feel it (apart from along a narrow part on their back where they appear to share sensation).
Parents Patty and Mike never once considered having the twins separated, because of the risk both might die or be left with such severe disabilities their quality of life would be compromised.
When growing up, they, like many twins, had very different personalities and tastes. Abigail, the feisty, stubborn one, liked orange juice for breakfast, while Brittany, the joker of the family, would only touch milk.
Speaking previously, Brittany, who alongside her sibling graduated from Bethel University in Minnesota, said: ‘Believe me, we are totally different people.’
The twins are also a different height, with Abby 5ft 2in and her sister 4ft 10in. Brittany has to stand on tip toe to ensure they maintain their balance.
The pair, who were said to have ‘mystified the medical world since they were born… because nobody knows how they work’, act almost seamlessly with one another.
They can, for instance, jointly compose an email with very little discussion out loud and often finish one another’s sentences.
However, their dress sense isn’t the same, with Abby saying in 2013: ‘We definitely have different styles.
‘Brittany’s a lot more like neutrals and pearls and stuff like that and I would rather have it be more fun and bright and colourful.’ The siblings have clothes tailored to fit their body.
Patty had no idea she was carrying twins until the birth at the local hospital where she worked.
‘The paediatrician said my babies were together but they had two heads,’ she recalled in 2006. ‘It was blunt, but completely accurate.
‘From the first time we saw them, we thought they were beautiful. I kissed Abigail and then Brittany and gave them a hug.
‘It’s like that every time I pick them up from school, two kisses and one hug for the most beautiful children in the world.’
Both Mike and Patty’s families have lived in a small midwestern farming community of 300 people for generations and it is here where they have brought up the twins and younger brother Dakota and sister Morgan away from the media spotlight.
In infancy, a third undeveloped arm was removed from the twins’ chest and aged 12 they underwent surgery to correct scoliosis – curvature of the spine – and expand their chest cavity to prevent future breathing difficulties.
They attended a private church school and only when the family ventures outside this close-knit community does the curiosity of strangers have the potential to wound.
Once Patty heard a child at a swimming pool ask his mother if she had seen the little girl with two heads. ‘We have talked about that with Abigail and Brittany,’ she previously said.
‘When children ask the girls if they have two heads, they say they don’t but that each has their own head. That’s what we have encouraged them to do, to develop their own individuality as much as possible.’
According to previous reports, only once have the twins talked about separation – in childhood – when Abigail became bored and restless after Brittany fell ill with pneumonia and was confined to bed.
She started to suggest being separated from her sister, but when Brittany began to cry Abigail reassured her that everything was fine and that they’d never be parted.
In the 2003 documentary Joined for Life, their mother Patty said her daughters were interested in having children one day.
‘That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them,’ Patty explained.
‘Yeah, we’re going to be moms,’ Brittany added. ‘We haven’t thought about how being moms is going to work yet. But we’re just 16 — we don’t need to think about that right now.’
Discussing her daughters’ personalities, Patty added: ‘They never give up. They keep trying, anything they want to do they go out and do it.’
Meanwhile, the twins also opened up about people taking photographs of them while they’re on holiday with their family.
‘We don’t mind when people ask questions, that’s better than taking pictures or being mean about it,’ Abby said. ‘We absolutely hate when people take pictures of us.’
While the twins call Minnesota home, they once refused to rule out a move to London, declaring they loved the British capital.
They have studied abroad in London twice, teaching at a Maidenhead school during their training, according to the 2012 documentary Abby and Brittany: College and Beyond.
When they travel, the twins – who refer to themselves as ‘I’ when speaking, rather than ‘we’ – only need one ticket because of taking up just a single seat.
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