Joshua Bowling, the husband of celebrity conjoined twin Abby Hensel, has found out the results of a paternity test initiated by his ex-wife.
Bowling, 34, made headlines after his marriage to Abby, one-half of the famous conjoined twins, in 2021.
However, the joy of their union was soon overshadowed by a paternity lawsuit filed against him nearly two years later. The suit alleged that Bowling might have fathered a child with his ex-wife, Annica Bowling.
Bowling and Annica, who tied the knot in 2010, share an eight-year-old daughter named Isabella, with joint custody as per court documents.
Their marriage ended in April 2019, paving the way for Annica's subsequent relationship and the birth of her second daughter, whose paternity became the subject of legal contention.
The courtroom drama unfolded in the Minnesota District Court in Washington County.
Legal proceedings reached a climax when the results of a genetic test were revealed, confirming another man, Gavin Vatnsdal, as the biological father of Annica Bowling's daughter, per the New York Post.
"It's not Mr. Bowling's child. It's my client's child," declared Vatnsdal's attorney, Gregory Seamon, during the court session.
Judge Siv Mjanger swiftly ruled in favor of the genetic evidence, declaring Vatnsdal as the adjudicated father and absolving Bowling of any paternal responsibility.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2023, shed light on Bowling's secret marriage to Abby, which took place almost two years prior. The revelation sparked public interest, with Abby and Brittany addressing the attention on social media platforms like TikTok.
The sisters first rose to fame after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996 and offered fans a closer glimpse at their lives in the 2012 TLC reality series Abby & Brittany - which followed them as they graduated from Minnesota's Bethel College and later traveled to Europe.
"People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons," the twins said in the first episode of the eight-part series, as cited by ABC. "But our parents never let us use that as an excuse. We were raised to believe we could do anything we wanted to do."
Born with a rare medical condition known as dicephalus, the twins share a single body with distinct heads, organs, and limbs. Despite their physical challenges, Abby and Brittany pursued careers as fifth-grade teachers in their home state of Minnesota.
Watch a young Brittany and Abby on Oprah below:
In light of the information surfacing about Abby's nuptials to Bowling, a past interview of her and her sister talking about motherhood has circulated.
At the time, the pair expressed interest in having kids, with Brittany sharing in the 2006 documentary, Joined for Life: Abby & Brittany Turn 16: "Yeah, we're going to be moms. We haven't thought about how being moms is going to work yet," per E! News.
In the same doc, their mother explains: "That is probably something that could work because those organs do work for them."
In another interview, cited by the Daily Mail, Brittany reiterated their dreams to have families of their own, telling viewers: "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 agreed, adding: "Yeah, we are going to be moms one day, but we don't want to talk about how it's going to work yet."