New twist in marriage of conjoined twin who shares body with sister

Josh Bowling with ex-wife Annica Bowling, left, and with Abby and Brittany Hensel (Picture: Facebook)

The husband of Abby Hensel was handed a paternity suit by his ex-wife two years after he married the famous conjoined twin, it has been revealed.

Army veteran Josh Bowling wed Abby, who shares a body with her sister Brittany, at a ceremony in 2021 – though their marriage was only first reported last week.

It has now emerged that Josh, 33, is at the centre of a paternity lawsuit filed in October 2023 by his ex-wife Annica Bowling, with whom he shares an eight-year-old daughter named Isabella.

The couple married in 2010, but divorced 10 years later after splitting in 2019.

A second man, Gavin Vatnsdal, is also named in the case, which is being heard at a court in the US state of Minnesota.

The New York Post said a report from a genetic test was filed as part of the lawsuit on March 7, but the results are not publicly available.

Josh’s daughter Isabella remains close to him and Abby, the newspaper added, and she was a guest at their wedding three years ago.

Annica had a second daughter, referred to as Isabella’s half-sister in court documents, in late 2020 following the divorce.

Abby, left, and Brittany Hensel with Abby’s husband Josh Bowling

Interest in Abby and Brittany’s life as conjoined twins has exploded since the details of the marriage were reported.

The pair were born in 1990 and first rose to fame when they appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show aged six.

Later, they appeared in documentaries since as Joined at Birth and Joined for Life, before getting their own TLC reality show titled Abby & Brittany in 2012.

Now 34, the twins teach fourth and fifth grade students at Sunnyside Elementary School in New Brighton, Minneapolis.

Abby and Brittany at the wedding in 2021

They are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning they have two heads on one torso, and are one of only two such adult pairs alive today.

In the aftermath of the wedding reports last week, Abby and Brittany have referenced the flood of attention in a series of posts on their official TikTok page.

One says: ‘This is a message to all the haters out there. If you don’t like what I do but watch everything I’m doing, you’re still a fan.’

Another, captioned ‘The internet is extra LOUD today’, features a series of pictures showing what appear to be ancient sculptures of people with two heads on one body.

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