Conjoined twin who shot to fame with sister on The Oprah Winfrey Show marries army veteran in private ceremony

28 March 2024, 21:01 | Updated: 28 March 2024, 21:04

Conjoined twin who shot to fame with sister on The Oprah Winfrey Show marries army veteran in private ceremony
Conjoined twin who shot to fame with sister on The Oprah Winfrey Show marries army veteran in private ceremony. Picture: Facebook

By Christian Oliver

A conjoined twin who shot to fame on a reality show documenting her life with her sister has privately married an army veteran, it has emerged.

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Abby Hensel, 34, who starred alongside her sister Brittany, in the series Abby & Brittany, married Josh Bowling, 33, in 2021, records obtained by Today have revealed.

The couple now live in Minnesota where the twins are primary school teachers while Bowling works as a nurse, having previously served in the United States Army.

Images from the Hansels' Facebook profile show them in a white wedding dress, in what appears to be images from their nuptials. Bowling has also shared pictures of himself and the twins on social media.

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The twins have been out of the spotlight for over 10 years since ending their reality show, and have kept Abby's relationship with Bowling out of public view.

A TikTok account called @abbyandbrittanyhensel posted a clip of the two dancing in Abby's wedding dress, while another account on Facebook called Britt And Abby showed them in a picture on the happy day.

"People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons," the twins said in their original reality show.

"But our parents never let us use that as an excuse. We were raised to believe we could do anything we wanted to do."

The sisters are Dicephalus twins, and are one of very few sets of twins to survive childhood. They are conjoined at the torso so have separate heads and brains.

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They initially shot to fame on their self-titled TLC show Abby & Brittany, and later appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

They documented their major life events through school and graduation, and navigating life their life as conjoined twins.

While they have separate heads, the two are joined from the waist down and share organs - including reproductive organs.

Abby controls the right arm and leg, while Brittany controls the left arm and leg. The two can therefore eat separately and complete a variety of tasks independently.

The then-teenagers expressed their desire to have children one day during their reality show.

Their mum explained in the show: "That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them."

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