3 weeks ago
5
Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel looked as happy as could be while they smiled in a new pic shared by Abby’s husband Josh Bowling on social media.
In the pic, which was shared on September 5 via Facebook, Josh, 34, wore a black puffer jacket, while Abby and Brittany, also both 34, kept warm in a black coat. The image was the first image Josh has shared publicly on social media that included the twins.
Abby and Brittany became well known after they sat down for an interview in 1996 discussing unique aspects of their life. In 2006, they were the subjects of the documentary Joined for Life: Abby & Brittany Turn 16, and six years later, the two nabbed their own reality show on TLC called Abby & Brittany.
Brittany and Abby are “fused side-by-side with a shared pelvis,” a type of conjoined twinning known as dicephalus, according to the National Institute of Health. The women share organs below the waist, but they have separate hearts, spinal cords and brains. In their case, Abby controls the right side of their body while Brittany controls the left.
“We are totally different people. We usually bargain with each other like, ‘If you do this, I’ll do that.’ Or we take turns,” Brittany explained in the 2007 documentary Extraordinary People: The Twins Who Share a Body.
Abby and Josh officially tied the knot in 2021, but the news didn’t make headlines until March 27 when Today obtained public records of the union. However, once word got out, the public became curious about how certain aspects of their marriage worked, particularly sex.
“My understanding is that they keep their relationship separate from the other, so it’s not really like a throuple, it’s more like a couple with a constant companion,” intimacy professional Ariella Salinas Fiore exclusively told In Touch in May. “It is likely to be very complicated as the situation is not common nor something [Josh] has lived with his whole life, as the twins have.”
Ariella, who does not know Abby, Josh or Brittany personally, added, “People don’t always experience jealousy the same way. People in polyamorous relationships are often able to manage without feeling the traditional feelings of jealousy so there is no reason to assume those feelings would exist here.”
With Brittany and Abby sharing a pelvis, many people wondered how sexual arousal worked between the women when Abby and Josh got intimate.
“It depends on how experienced they have become at disconnecting from things happening to their body when their twin is in charge, so to speak,” the sex expert explained at the time. “Orgasms for women can be connected to their brain as well so if this is the case for them, it’s possible one could experience the biological orgasm but maybe not the endorphins that come from it.”
Ariella also said that she assumed that Brittany and Abby, along with Josh, had clear boundaries set in place regarding Brittany’s feelings when it came to sexual activity.
“I would imagine this would take not only planning but also would need exceptional communication between all parties.”
English (US) ·