Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel only get paid one salary between them despite both working

A famous pair of conjoined twins only get paid one salary to split between them, despite both working.

Abby and Brittany Hensel first shot to fame in 1996 when they were aged just six, after an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

And they then became the subject of documentaries and eventually, their own reality TV show on TLC.

The American pair are dicephalus conjoined twins, meaning they share organs from the waist down, and although they only have one body, they say they have two souls.

Recently emerged public records revealed Abby got married back in 2021, to US Army veteran Josh Bowling, according to Today.

Over their lives, the twins have achieved separate degrees at university and were always encouraged by their parents to develop their own minds.

TLC

After graduating Bethel University, the pair began a career in teaching.

Nowadays, they are fifth grade teachers in their home state of Minnesota, but apparently, they get just one salary between them.

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

Having spent a lot of their years in the public eye, the pair seem to be thriving despite the various challenges they face.

Paul Good, the headteacher at their school, said: "I don't think there's anything that they won't try or something that they couldn't be able to do if they really wanted to.

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"To bring that to children, especially kids who might be struggling, that's very special, that's learnt through lived example."

Following the news Abby is married, people began asking how that works.

One Reddit user wrote: “How does this unfold legally? Since they are two people married to one man, who is on the marriage certificate?"

With another saying: “Ngl, for some reason, I was expecting there to be two guys.

"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?”

However, someone has clarified the trials and tribulations of the marriage, replying: "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.

"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," the Reddit lawyer (pretty much) explained.