Taking A Look At The Miraculous Conjoined Twins Years Later

This article appeared in urbanaunty.com and has been published here with permission.

The Showstoppers

Abby and Brittany Hensel became internationally famous with TLC's 2012 reality show Abby & Brittany.

The show portrayed the conjoined twins in a positive light, showing the world that despite their different appearances, they are just as capable and fun-loving as any other teen. Where they are now is quite stunning...

Life In The Spotlight

Although TLC's Abby & Brittany wasn't released until August 2012, the Hensel twins have been no strangers to the public eye, having appeared in popular media sources since the mid-90's.

Their first experience with fame came on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996, followed shortly by a cover feature in Life Magazine under the caption "One Body, Two Souls." The article, titled The Hensels' Summer, described the twins' day-to-day life and was followed up just two years later.

Oprah

While today the twins don't remember too much about the time Oprah Winfrey invited them onto her show over twenty years ago, the rest of the world still does.

Their appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show was really the first time the conjoined twins were exposed to such a large audience. Their story resinated with millions of Americans from all over the country and marked the beginning of a new chapter of fame, recognition, and popularity in the girls' lives.

Television Celebrities

In 2002, the twins appeared on television for the first time in Joined For Life, a documentary created by Advanced Medical Productions and shown on the Discovery Health Channel, and again in a 2003 follow up called Joined At Birth.

In 2003, Life, along with Time published an updated story of the twins at age 11. In 2006, TLC put out their first television special about the twins called Joined For Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16, and in 2007, they appeared in the UK series, Extraordinary People.

Growing Up Together

Abby and Brittany were born in Carver County, Minnesota to Patty, a registered nurse, and Mike Hensel, a carpenter and landscaper. They grew up with a younger brother and sister in New Germany, Minnesota.

Their childhood was full of struggles and challenges. The simplest of tasks that other children take for granted were extremely difficult for the conjoined twins to master. Because each twin only has control of half of their shared body, even crawling took a while to perfect.