It’s rare when the internet collectively stops to catch its breath, but it happened. Back in early 2024, news broke that Abby Hensel—one half of the world’s most famous dicephalic parapagus twins—had actually been married for a couple of years. She wed Josh Bowling, a nurse and army veteran, in a private ceremony back in 2021. This wasn't just another celebrity wedding. It reignited a massive, sometimes uncomfortable, but deeply human conversation about how a siamese twin married life actually functions in a world built for individuals.
People are nosy. That's just a fact. When the TikTok videos and wedding photos surfaced, the comments sections turned into a chaotic mix of genuine congratulations and intense, often invasive, curiosity about the logistics of their shared life.
The Wedding That Surprised Everyone
Abby and Brittany Hensel have been in the public eye since they were kids, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show and later starring in their own TLC reality series. Then, they basically vanished. They chose a quiet life in Minnesota as fifth-grade teachers. They wanted normalcy. But "normal" is a relative term when you share a torso and every internal organ below the waist.
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The marriage to Josh Bowling wasn't some publicity stunt. It was a private choice. Documents obtained by various news outlets confirmed the marriage certificate was filed in Minnesota years before the public found out. It’s wild to think they kept that secret for so long in an era where everyone shares what they had for breakfast.
Josh is a father, and by all accounts, the twins have embraced a role in his daughter's life. This adds a whole other layer to the story. It’s not just about a romantic union; it’s about a blended family dynamic that challenges every conventional "rule" of marriage we’ve been taught.
Understanding the Reality of Dicephalic Parapagus Twins
To understand the siamese twin married dynamic, you have to understand the biology, because the biology dictates the law, the ethics, and the daily chores. Abby and Brittany are rare. Extremely rare. They are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning they have two heads but one body.
They each control one side. Abby controls the right arm and leg; Brittany controls the left. Think about that for a second. Every step, every typed email, every drive to work requires total synchronization. They aren't "two people in one body" in a psychological sense—they are two distinct individuals with separate hearts, stomachs, and spines, but they share a bloodstream and everything from the waist down.
Legally, they are two people. They have two birth certificates, two driver's licenses, and they pay for two seats on an airplane (usually). But when it comes to marriage, the law gets murky.
Historically, the legal system hasn't really known what to do with conjoined twins. In the case of Abby’s marriage, the license is technically between her and Josh. But Brittany is there. She’s always there. You can’t go on a "solo" honeymoon. You can’t have a private argument in the kitchen without your sister being physically attached to the conversation.
The Complicated History of Love and Conjoined Twins
Abby and Josh aren't the first to navigate this. If you look back at the original "Siamese Twins," Chang and Eng Bunker, the story is even more mind-boggling. They were joined at the chest by a small band of cartilage and flesh. They moved to North Carolina, became farmers, and—get this—married two sisters, Adelaide and Sarah Yates.
They didn't just marry; they had 21 children between them.
How? They set up two different houses about a mile apart. They’d spend three days at Chang’s house and then three days at Eng’s. It was a rigid, synchronized schedule that lasted decades. It sounds like a logistical nightmare, but they made it work until the day they died.
Then you have Daisy and Violet Hilton, the famous vaudeville stars. Their love lives were a mess of legal battles. When one tried to get a marriage license in the 1930s, she was rejected on "moral grounds" in several states. Officials argued that because they were joined, marriage would be a form of bigamy or "indecent exposure." It was a cruel, narrow-minded way to view human connection.
The fact that Abby Hensel could get married in 2021 without a massive legal circus shows how much—and how little—things have changed. The legal barriers are lower, but the social scrutiny is just as high.
Navigating the Physical and Legal Maze
When a siamese twin married life becomes a reality, the questions usually turn to the "how." How do they handle intimacy? How do they handle privacy?
The Hensels have always been incredibly protective of their private lives. In their old TLC show, they famously said, "The whole world doesn't need to know who we are seeing, what we are doing, and when we are going to do it." That's a fair boundary.
But from a medical and ethical standpoint, it’s a fascinating gray area. Since they share a reproductive system, any decision to have a child would affect both women equally. They both feel the physical sensations of the lower body. They share a circulatory system, so any hormones or medications one takes affect the other.
Bioethicists have debated this for years. If one twin wants to get married and the other doesn't, can the marriage proceed? In Abby and Brittany's case, they’ve always operated as a unified front. They’ve spoken about wanting to be mothers one day.
The "Third Person" in the Marriage
Honestly, Josh Bowling is an interesting part of this equation. It takes a very specific type of person to enter a marriage knowing that "til death do us part" involves three people, not two.
People on social media were quick to judge, but those who know the couple describe a very grounded relationship. Josh isn't a celebrity seeker. He’s a guy who worked in healthcare and lived a quiet life. For him, the "siamese twin married" aspect was likely secondary to the person he fell in love with.
We often forget that even for conjoined twins, personality is everything. Abby and Brittany have different tastes in clothes, different food preferences, and even different sleep patterns (sometimes). Managing a marriage means Josh has to navigate the individual personality of Abby while maintaining a healthy, respectful relationship with Brittany, who is essentially the world’s most permanent third wheel—or, more accurately, a co-pilot.
Privacy in the Age of TikTok
The reason this story blew up so much in late 2024 and throughout 2025 is because of how we consume information now. When the Hensels were kids, they were a "human interest story" in magazines. Now, they are "content."
After the marriage news broke, the twins' TikTok account posted a response to the haters. They didn't apologize. They basically told the world that they’ve always been here, and if people find their existence or their love life "weird," that’s a "them" problem.
"The internet is extra LOUD today," they posted. "We have always been around."
This defiance is important. It’s a reminder that disabled bodies—and conjoined twins are a form of disability in a world not built for them—are not public property. They aren't there for our entertainment or our anatomical curiosity. They are people trying to find a version of happiness that works for them.
Practical Realities for Conjoined Couples
If you're looking at the broader picture of what it means to be a siamese twin married or in a long-term relationship, there are several practical hurdles that most people never consider:
- Financial Management: How do you file taxes? If only one twin is married, does the spouse's income count against both? In most cases, they are treated as two separate tax entities, but their shared living expenses are a nightmare for standard accounting software.
- Medical Power of Attorney: This is a big one. If Abby is incapacitated, Josh is her next of kin. But any medical decision he makes for Abby physically affects Brittany. The legal paperwork involved in their lives is likely inches thick to ensure that both sisters' rights are protected.
- Social Dynamics: Think about a simple dinner date. It’s always a table for three. Always. The ability to tune out the "extra" person is a skill that all three individuals have to master.
- Employment: They work as teachers. They have two separate contracts but share one classroom. They’ve mentioned in the past that they get paid less than two full salaries because they are doing the work of "one" person in terms of classroom management, which is a whole other debate about labor rights.
Why This Story Resonates
Why do we care so much? It’s not just voyeurism. It’s because the Hensels represent the ultimate test of the "soulmate" myth. We like to think that love is about two souls finding each other. In their case, it’s about three people finding a way to coexist in a space where "personal space" literally doesn't exist.
It forces us to redefine what a relationship is. If a marriage can work when the spouses are never, ever alone, then maybe our own complaints about a partner leaving socks on the floor seem a bit trivial.
There's also the element of "the unknown." Because there are so few conjoined twins who reach adulthood and even fewer who marry, Abby and Josh are pioneers. They are writing the manual as they go.
Moving Past the Taboo
The conversation around the siamese twin married life needs to move past the "how do they do it?" phase and into the "good for them" phase. Society has a long history of infantalizing conjoined twins, treating them like children or medical oddities rather than adults with desires, ambitions, and the right to companionship.
The Hensels have spent their entire lives defying expectations. Doctors didn't think they'd survive birth. Then they didn't think they'd survive childhood. Then they didn't think they'd be able to drive, or teach, or live independently. Each time, they’ve proven the "experts" wrong.
Marriage is just the latest milestone.
Actionable Takeaways for the Curious
If you're following this story or interested in the complexities of conjoined lives, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Respect the Boundary: Just because someone’s life is public doesn't mean their intimacy is your business. The Hensels have set clear boundaries; respecting them is the bare minimum.
- Challenge Your Bias: When you feel "weirded out" by the idea of a conjoined twin marrying, ask yourself why. Is it based on a real concern, or just a lack of imagination regarding how different bodies function?
- Support Disability Rights: The legal and social hurdles the Hensels face are shared by many in the disability community. Advocacy for bodily autonomy and the right to marry without losing benefits is a huge issue.
- Look at the Person, Not the Anatomy: Abby is a teacher, a sister, a wife, and a Vikings fan. Those things define her far more than her shared torso.
The story of Abby Hensel’s marriage is still unfolding. As they navigate life in Minnesota, they continue to be a living testament to the fact that there is no "normal" way to be a human. Love is messy, complicated, and requires a massive amount of compromise. For a siamese twin married, that compromise is just a little more literal than it is for the rest of us.
To stay informed on how legal and social norms are evolving for unique family structures, you can follow the updates from organizations like the Mayo Clinic on rare congenital conditions or look into the historical archives of the Mutter Museum for a deeper look at the lives of conjoined twins throughout history.