Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel broke their silence after photos of the pair with a newborn baby surfaced in recent weeks, which sparked rumors that they may have given birth. They were seen running errands while holding a baby carrier in August, and took the newborn to the school where they work, causing many to question if the baby was theirs. Others speculated that it was a family member or friend’s baby and that they were simply helping out.
Baby on board?
Abby and Brittany shared a clip to TikTok on August 30 of the aforementioned paparazzi photos, set to the tune of Dr Dre’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”. They simply captioned it, “Blessed”, alongside a series of hashtags like “#sisterhood” and “#respect”. Speculation surrounding their motherhood status rose after Today confirmed in 2024 that Abby had married US Army veteran Josh Bowling three years prior.
She became a stepmother to his daughter from a previous relationship, and the blended family lives together in Minnesota where the twins work as fifth-grade teachers.
Back to the beginning
The duo rose to fame in the ’90s after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996, and graced the cover of LIFE magazine shortly thereafter. They nabbed their own TLC reality show in 2012, Abby & Brittany, which followed along as they graduated from college and embarked on their careers. They are dicephalic conjoined twins, meaning that they have two heads, yet share the same body and bloodstream.
Abby controls the right-hand side and is slightly taller than her sister, while Brittany controls the left side. Conjoined twins are extremely rare, with 40-60% of births delivered stillborn. Their parents decided not to separate them via surgery, as it is an extremely dangerous procedure and can lead to lower quality of life, or even death.
Working together
Abby and Brittany have been open about how they function in their day-to-day lives while sharing a body, revealing that they are paid one wage instead of two for their work. “Obviously, right away we understand that we are going to get one salary because we’re doing the job of one person,” Abby told the BBC. “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.”
Their mother, Patti Hensel, shared on the reality show that they had always dreamt big in terms of their careers. “I remember one wanted to be a pilot and one wanted to be a dentist, and that was short-lived,” she said. “I think it’s going to go well for them [as teachers] because they’ve just always had a knack with kids, and kids have always kind of been drawn to them.”
© TikTok“Like every mom would hope for, you want them to be successful and to be happy and healthy as they’re being successful, and that’s what I want,” she added in the BBC interview. Abby and Brittany also have two younger siblings: a brother, Cody, and a sister, Morgan.
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