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7 months ago
24
Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel have broken their silence after news emerged that one of them is now married.
'The internet is extra LOUD today,' the twins, 34, said on their joint TikTok account on Thursday after the world learned that Abby had married nurse and army veteran Josh Bowling, 33.
Abby and Brittany shared images of ancient sculptures depicting conjoined twins and added: 'We have always been around.'
The famous twins also posted another video showing a photo with Josh and wrote: 'This is a message to all the haters out there. If you don't like what I do, but watch everything I'm doing, you're still a fan.'
Abby and Josh tied the knot in 2021 but didn't share the news on their social media until last year.
Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel have broken their silence after news emerged that one of them is now married, which the called a message 'to the haters out there'
Abby and Brittany also shared images of ancient sculptures depicting conjoined twins and added: 'We have always been around'
Here is Abby (pictured left) as she stuns in a white floor-length gown on her wedding day
Abby (pictured right) dancing with her groom at her wedding day, while wearing a stunning white lace dress
Abby and her sister Brittany, one of only a few sets of dicephalus twins in history to survive infancy, rose to fame on their eponymous TLC show which chronicled their major life events, including their high school graduation and job hunting.
On TikTok account @abbyandbrittanyhensel, a clip was recently posted showing off Abby's wedding day - and a Facebook account titled Britt And Abby also featured a picture of the happy couple.
The pair share a single body, and from the waist down, all their organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared
For the ceremony, which records revealed took place back in 2021, the twins sported a sleeveless wedding dress with lace trim detailing while the groom wore a grey suit.
A video thought to have been captured by one of their guests and shared on social media showed the twins and the groom enjoying a dance during the big day.
Another showed Josh's daughter sporting a floral bridesmaid's dress and walking down the aisle, holding a sign that read: 'Daddy... Here Comes Your Bride'.
It's likely the father-of-one, who works with hospice patients, and the twins live with one another, with Josh's Facebook page showing the family - including his young daughter - enjoying hikes in nature, ice cream and dressing up for Halloween.
The pair share a single body, and from the waist down, all their organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.
In a documentary filmed when the girls were teenagers, their mother said they were keen to have children of their own one day, explaining: 'That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them.'
In another interview, Brittany reiterated their desire to have families of their own, saying: '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.'
Abby and her sister Brittany (pictured in their childhood), one of only a few sets of dicephalus twins in history to survive infancy, rose to fame on their eponymous TLC show which chronicled their major life events, including their high school graduation and job hunting
Abby (pictured left) and Brittany appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996
They have always shut down speculation about their private life and a decade ago, they dismissed a rumor that Brittany was engaged as a 'dumb joke', but even as teenagers they spoke about wanting to have children.
'People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons,' the twins said in the first episode of their eight-part series, according to ABC News. 'But our parents never let us use that as an excuse. We were raised to believe we could do anything we wanted to do.'
In a 2001 interview with Time, the twins' father Mike said his daughters had already then asked about finding husbands one day.
Knowing that other conjoined twins have married, he explained, why not? 'They're good-looking girls. They're witty. They've got everything going for them, except they're together,' he added.
The twins, who have their own birth certificates and passports, were raised Christian by their parents, a nurse and a carpenter.
Abby and Brittany are now both fifth grade math teachers at an elementary school in New Brighton, Minnesota, where they were born and raised.
There is only one of set of twins living in the world with the same condition - brothers Ayşe and Sema Tanrıkulu who were born in Turkey in 2000.
How conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel defied 1% chance of survival: Pair who share a body and major organs are the only female twins in the world with their condition
Conjoined twins occur when siblings have their skin or internal organs fused together.
Just one set of twins in every 40,000 is born connected in some way to each other and only 1 per cent of those survive beyond the first year.
Conjoined twins are caused by a fertilised egg beginning to split into two embryos a few weeks after conception, but the process stops before it is complete.
The most common type is twins joined at the chest or abdomen.
Separation surgery success depends on where the twins are joined. Doctors can only tell which organs the siblings share, and therefore plan surgery, after they are born. At least one twin survives 75 per cent of the time.
The most famous pair of conjoined twins was Chang and Eng Bunker, who were born in 1811 and travelled with PT Barnum's circus. They were born in Siam and were known as the Siamese twins.
The Hensel girls are the rarest form of conjoined twins, the result of a single fertilised egg which failed to separate properly in the womb, resulting in dicephalic parapagus - where the twins have two heads and a single body with two arms and two legs.
They have two spines (which join at the pelvis), two hearts, two oesophagi, two stomachs, three kidneys, two gall bladders, four lungs (two of which are joined), one liver, one ribcage, a shared circulatory system and partially shared nervous systems.
From the waist down, all organs, including the intestine, bladder and reproductive organs, are shared.
While they were born with three arms, one was removed surgically.
Although Brittany - the left twin - can't feel anything on the right side of the body and Abigail - the right twin - can't feel anything on her left, instinctively their limbs move as if co-ordinated by one person, even when typing e-mails on the computer.
It is rare for twins conjoined the way that Abby and Brittany are to survive into adulthood, but despite this they are in good health, without heart defects or organ failure.
There is only one of set of twins living in the world with the same condition - brothers Ayşe and Sema Tanrıkulu who were born in Turkey in 2000.
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