Featured Image Credit: TLC/Origin
Topics: Documentaries, Reddit, TV, US News, Sex and Relationships
Anish Vij
Topics: Documentaries, Reddit, TV, US News, Sex and Relationships
Everyone seems to be asking the same questions about conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel.
Earlier this week, many were shocked to learn via public records that Abby tied the knot with nurse and US Army veteran, Josh Bowling, back in 2021, according to Today.
While their wedding was actually previewed on social media at the time, fans are still having a hard time understanding how Abby, who is joined at the Torso to Brittany, made it work - especially because Brittany is four inches shorter than Abby's half.
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"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.
"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."
Amid all the different questions, the pair have also revealed how they go about their daily lives.
The Minnesota-born twins first hit our screens aged just six following an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996.
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After appearing on a number of documentaries and having their own reality show on TLC, Abby and Brittany pretty much became the most famous conjoined twins in the world.
Despite their fame, both went on to obtain degrees from Bethel University and are now elementary school teachers in their local town. Although, 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,
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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."
Abby and Brittany are dicephalus conjoined twins, which means they share a bloodstream and all of the organs below the waist.
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Incredibly though, they still have two hearts as Abby controls the right arm and leg of the body, while Brittany controls the left.
When it comes to eating, the pair will sometimes have separate meals, but will ideally tend to stick to a single meal, with one person eating at a time. The twins do, in fact, have two digestive systems and two separate stomaches, but because they share the same bladder and excretion system, sometimes one meal is more convenient.
With regards to driving, they passed their test on their 16th Birthday as Brittany explained: "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?"
The twins clearly have incredible co-ordination, and are able to play the piano, go bowling, play volleyball and go swimming.
Another common question is will the couple ever welcome children?
"That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them," the mum explained in a documentary titled Joined For Life.
"Yeah, we're going to be moms," Brittany agreed at the time.
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."