Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, 35, proudly showed a newborn to friends just two weeks after baby news about their family first surfaced.
The sisters gained attention last year when it was revealed that Abby had married U.S. Army veteran and nurse Josh Bowling in 2021.
Earlier this month, Abby and Brittany were spotted with a baby carrier, leading to speculation that the twins had welcomed a child with Josh. Now, new photos obtained by The U.S. Sun show them introducing the newborn to colleagues at the Minnesota school where they work as teachers.
Witnesses said the twins brought the baby inside for about half an hour to meet co-workers. One colleague hugged them as they left. An eyewitness told The U.S. Sun: “They looked extremely tired during the visit, but they seemed happy to see their colleagues. They struggled at times with the carrier.”
The twins later returned to their Saint Paul, Minnesota home, which they share with Abby’s husband. Over the weekend, they were seen grocery shopping with Josh but without the baby.
The baby news first broke on August 14, when Abby and Brittany were photographed running errands with a newborn. The family has not publicly confirmed if the baby is theirs and did not respond to requests for comment.
Double the Love
In March 2024, it was revealed Abby had married Josh. He later shared photos of himself with his wife and her sister, showing the trio smiling together.
That June, the twins posted a TikTok from their wedding day, where they danced to music and celebrated the occasion. In another video, they addressed online criticism with a caption and voiceover saying, “This is a message to all the haters out there. If you don’t like what I do, but you watch everything that I’m doing you’re still a fan.”
Josh also has a daughter from a previous marriage.
Meeting Brittany and Abby
The twins first rose to fame in 1996 when they appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show at just six years old. They were later featured on the cover of LIFE magazine.
Their story was further told in the 2003 documentary Joined For Life, where their mother, Patty, shared that the sisters had expressed interest in having children. At the time, Brittany, then 16, said: “Yeah, we’re going to be moms. We haven’t thought about how being moms is going to work yet.”
In 2012, the twins starred in their own TLC reality show, Abby & Brittany, which followed their lives after college. The show lasted one season. Both sisters graduated from Bethel University with separate degrees and now work together as fifth-grade teachers.
Abby once explained to the BBC that they receive one salary because they share one teaching position. Brittany added that they balance their work by dividing tasks in the classroom.
What Are Conjoined Twins?
Conjoined twins are siblings born physically connected because an embryo only partially separates during development. This condition occurs in about one out of every 50,000 to 60,000 births, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Most cases are female, and many do not survive birth.
Twins can be joined in different areas, such as the chest, abdomen, head, hips, or pelvis. They often share organs, which affects survival rates and whether surgery to separate them is possible.
Abby and Brittany have a rare condition called dicephalic parapagus, where two heads share one torso. Each twin has her own heart, stomach, spine, lungs, and spinal cord but they share a liver, large intestine, and reproductive system.
Brittany controls and feels the right side of their body, while Abby controls the left. Still, they move together naturally, almost as if coordinated by one mind. They even experience sensations differently — if one twin has a stomach ache, the other feels the pain.
Their condition is among the rarest forms of conjoined twins, caused by a single fertilized egg that failed to fully separate in the womb.
