Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel reveal how they drive a car

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By VT

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Abby and Brittany Hensel have been plagued with questions all their lives, with a big one being: How do they drive a car as conjoined twins?

Brittany and Abby are dicephalus conjoined twins - a rare form of partial twinning with each of their heads side by side on one torso.

After their birth, their parents were given a choice to surgically separate them, however, they decided against it after the doctors noted that there was little chance that either of their daughters would survive the operation.

The 34-year-olds share a single body and learned to coordinate from a young age - with Abby controlling the right side while Brittany controls the left.

Watch Abby and Brittany speak about their lives below:

The sisters first became renowned after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996.

They then documented their lives as young adults in the 2012 TLC reality series Abby & Brittany - which followed them as they graduated from Minnesota's Bethel College and later traveled to Europe.

In an eye-opening interview from 2012, the girls opened up about how they drive a car, as having to work in unison is one of the incredible feats of conjoined twins.

Brittany was the first to speak, saying: "We have two licenses and when we got our driver's license we each had to take the test and we both passed obviously."

She revealed that Abby "is in control of the gas and the brakes and we both steer," while she is "in charge of the blinker [indicator]."

The twins share some internal organs such as their reproductive system, and parts of their digestive system, however, they both have individual hearts, spines, lungs, and stomachs which makes them independent of each other.

They have learned to intricately blend their actions to allow them to live relatively normal lives.

car
The twins revealed that they have two licenses. Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty

As aforementioned, the twins lead their lives separately.

According to public records obtained by Today, Abby secretly married her husband Josh Bowling, a nurse and United States Army veteran in 2021.

The Hensels' Facebook profile picture appears to be a wedding image, with the sisters donning a wedding dress, while Bowling, in a gray suit, stands before them holding their hand.

In addition to this, Bowling's Facebook page also features lovely snaps of him with the twins enjoying ice cream and traveling together. His X profile, which is linked to his Facebook account, also states: "Christian, Father, Husband, Veteran, and occasional gamer."

Following the joyful news, an old interview of the twins sharing their hopes of motherhood resurfaced.

At the time, Brittany said 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," and in another interview, cited by the Daily Mail, Brittany reiterated their dreams to have families of their own.

"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," she told viewers. 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."

Featured image credit: TLC

Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel reveal how they drive a car

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

Abby and Brittany Hensel have been plagued with questions all their lives, with a big one being: How do they drive a car as conjoined twins?

Brittany and Abby are dicephalus conjoined twins - a rare form of partial twinning with each of their heads side by side on one torso.

After their birth, their parents were given a choice to surgically separate them, however, they decided against it after the doctors noted that there was little chance that either of their daughters would survive the operation.

The 34-year-olds share a single body and learned to coordinate from a young age - with Abby controlling the right side while Brittany controls the left.

Watch Abby and Brittany speak about their lives below:

The sisters first became renowned after appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996.

They then documented their lives as young adults in the 2012 TLC reality series Abby & Brittany - which followed them as they graduated from Minnesota's Bethel College and later traveled to Europe.

In an eye-opening interview from 2012, the girls opened up about how they drive a car, as having to work in unison is one of the incredible feats of conjoined twins.

Brittany was the first to speak, saying: "We have two licenses and when we got our driver's license we each had to take the test and we both passed obviously."

She revealed that Abby "is in control of the gas and the brakes and we both steer," while she is "in charge of the blinker [indicator]."

The twins share some internal organs such as their reproductive system, and parts of their digestive system, however, they both have individual hearts, spines, lungs, and stomachs which makes them independent of each other.

They have learned to intricately blend their actions to allow them to live relatively normal lives.

car
The twins revealed that they have two licenses. Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty

As aforementioned, the twins lead their lives separately.

According to public records obtained by Today, Abby secretly married her husband Josh Bowling, a nurse and United States Army veteran in 2021.

The Hensels' Facebook profile picture appears to be a wedding image, with the sisters donning a wedding dress, while Bowling, in a gray suit, stands before them holding their hand.

In addition to this, Bowling's Facebook page also features lovely snaps of him with the twins enjoying ice cream and traveling together. His X profile, which is linked to his Facebook account, also states: "Christian, Father, Husband, Veteran, and occasional gamer."

Following the joyful news, an old interview of the twins sharing their hopes of motherhood resurfaced.

At the time, Brittany said 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," and in another interview, cited by the Daily Mail, Brittany reiterated their dreams to have families of their own.

"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," she told viewers. 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."

Featured image credit: TLC