Abby and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins who rose to fame on reality TV decades ago, have finally revealed how their partially shared body works.
The 34-year-old twins were born with a dicephalic parapagus, where two heads are attached to a single body, and each twin has its own brain, heart and other organs.
Their two brains and nervous systems are perfectly coordinated. They can write, eat, run and drive a car, acting independently and in perfect synchronization.
They shared a video explanation with her 300,000 TikTok followers, showing the structure of their joined bodies, which left fans stunned.
They have unique upper body areas (two brains, two spinal cords, and two hearts) that are part of the same overall system.
For example, your two hearts are part of a shared circulatory system that includes the same veins and arteries, meaning that if one heart malfunctions, it could affect blood flow and pressure in the other. If one heart were to fail, the other might have to compensate for changes in circulation, which could put additional strain on it.
Each twin controls the arm and leg on their respective side, with Abby controlling the right and Brittany controlling the left.
Despite this division, their movements are highly coordinated thanks to the remarkable cooperation between their different brains and nervous systems.
Each twin also has two lungs, two esophagus, two stomachs, and a single shared liver and small intestine.
Brittany and Abby, shown at Abby’s wedding, have distinct upper body parts with two brains, two hearts, and four lungs. Each twin has its own digestive system and stomach, so if one twin is hungry, the other may not be hungry.
Twins have unique upper body areas (two brains, two spinal cords, and two hearts) that are part of the same overall system.
The twins, now teachers in Minnesota, first gained national attention when they appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1996, when they were six years old.
Hensel twins are the rarest conjoined twins, as they are the result of a single fertilized egg not completely separating in the uterus.
Only one pair of twins in every 40,000 are born connected in any way to each other, and only one percent of them survive beyond the first year.
They were able to play basketball and softball at school and got driver’s licenses when they were 16 years old. Abby controls the pedals while Brittany controls the flashers and they both drive.
Although they have two separate brains, they are not completely isolated from each other.
Thanks to the shared spinal cord, their nervous systems can communicate, allowing their different brains to exchange information and coordinate body movements.
The narrator of the video they posted said: “For activities that require both arms, such as holding objects, typing on a keyboard, or driving a car, they depend on constant cooperation and communication.
“They are able to perform these tasks seamlessly thanks to the remarkable synchronization between their two brains and nervous systems.”
Each twin has two lungs (two partially fused), two stomachs, two gallbladders, three kidneys, a liver, a small intestine, a large intestine, a pelvis, a bladder, and a set of reproductive organs.
Because they have separate stomachs, twins have different appetites. If Abby is hungry, that doesn’t necessarily mean Brittany is too.
Their two stomachs and esophagus work independently, so each twin’s appetite is different.
The food they eat travels through each twin’s esophagus and enters each stomach, feeding nutrients to the large and small intestines.
They share a slightly elongated and larger than average liver to meet the needs of both bodies, which meet at the navel.
The twins have a single set of reproductive organs but three kidneys: one on Abby’s side and two on Brittany’s. This adaptation allows the kidneys to effectively filter waste products from the blood despite sharing a urinary system.
The twins had a third arm removed as babies and have lived generally normal lives.
Abby said in 2007, “We never wanted to be apart because then we wouldn’t be able to do the things we do now, like play softball, run and play sports.”
Abby married nurse and Army veteran Joshua Bowling in 2021 and both women want to be moms.
Abby and Brittany said in 2007 that they had never wanted to separate “because then we wouldn’t be able to do the things we do now, like play softball, run and play sports.”
Their mother said in a documentary: “It’s probably something that could work because those organs do work for them.”
Abby is now stepmother to Joshua’s daughter Isabella, but has sparked her own pregnancy rumors after posting a video showing a series of “breaking news” headlines.
The final headline revealed: “Married and baby on the way.”
However, the twins have not confirmed that they are pregnant.