Model Born With Torso Birthmark Discovers She's Her Own Twin

It's a common thought for people to think that they might have a twin, but it must be quite a massive shock to find out that your twin is, actually, yourself.

Singer/songwriter and model Taylor Muhl, from Los Angeles, California, was born with a birthmark across her torso and regularly suffered from auto-immune problems.

At first she just grew used to it until she discovered that she has a condition called chimerism, a rare condition in which a person has two sets of DNA - in her case, both hers and the DNA of the twin she absorbed while in her mother's womb.

CHECK OUT MUHL'S APPEARANCE ON TODAY BELOW:

"My first reaction was shock," Muhl told PEOPLE when asked to describe the moment she first learnt of her condition in 2010.

"Then my second reaction was sadness because I was like, 'Oh my gosh! I could've gone through life with a twin, with a sibling that hopefully I could've been close to'. There was some sadness."

As she was growing up Muhl always thought her condition was just a birthmark which left her with two different pigmentations running in a precise line down her stomach.

But then as she grew older she suffer from more and more health problems which led her to feel frustrated and upset.

"My autoimmune issues started pretty heavily as a preteen, and that was very difficult being so young, especially not knowing why I was sick," Muhl told Yahoo Lifestyle.

"Also, at times I did feel emotionally sad that my stomach appeared different than all my friends."

Instagram/Taylor Muhl

Muhl was later diagnosed with chimerism, a condition caused when someone is composed of two distinct types of cells - explaining the two different skin tones across her torso.

She discovered that due to absorbing her fraternal twin while she was in the womb, she had been left with two different strands of DNA, two different immune systems and even two different bloodstreams - hence why her body kept combating itself.

Muhl is now using her platform to work as a 'chimera advocate', encouraging people to embrace their own bodily flaws.

"Slowly, with time, I will be open to showing more of that part of my life only in hopes it will inspire others who are ill," she told Yahoo.

"I want the real focus to be on spreading human-chimera awareness, that it can be linked to autoimmune and how important body positivity is in the entertainment business and the world."

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Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from the University of East Anglia with degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing before completing his NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. Chris has previously written for the independent culture magazine The Skinny, among other publications.

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