Conjoined twin Abby Hensel’s husband hit with paternity suit — two years after they married
The Army veteran husband of conjoined twin Abby Hensel has been hit with a paternity suit filed by another woman since they married, The Post has learned.
The bombshell lawsuit was filed in October 2023, almost two years after medic Joshua Bowling, 34, and Hensel — who documented her life sharing a body with sister Brittany Hensel in a TLC reality series — secretly wed in November 2021.
The paternity case was filed by Bowling’s ex-wife, Annica Bowling, 33, against Joshua and another respondent, Gavin Vatnsdal, in a Minnesota court.
Court records show a “genetic test report” was entered onto the file just weeks ago, on March 7, 2024, but the details and results are not publicly available.
Annica and Joshua, who married in 2010, have one daughter together, 8-year-old Isabella, of whom they share joint custody, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
Those documents state she is their only “joint” child born during the marriage.
The couple split in April 2019 and Annica had another daughter, who was born in late 2020 and is now 3.
It appears possible this is the child whose paternity is being contested, but available court documents do not make that clear as she is a minor.
Neither Annica, Joshua, Vatnsdal nor the Hensel twins responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
In Annica and Joshua’s 2022 divorce papers, the younger daughter is referred to as “Isabella’s half-sister.”
Joshua and the conjoined twins have a close relationship with Isabella, who was a guest at the wedding and appears in many photos on social media with both sides of her family.
Several pictures show Abby, now her stepmother, and Brittany laughing with the little girl and hugging her.
Following the revelation of the secret marriage last week, Abby and Brittany wrote Friday on TikTok, “The internet is extra LOUD today,” alongside a clip featuring photos of them as the song “Real Love Baby” by Father John Misty played.
“We have always been around ❤️#abbyandbrittanyhensel #happy #love #lovestory #marriage.”
In a second video, titled “#forever,” the pair could be seen embracing Bowling in a photo as a voiceover said, “This is for all you haters out there. If you don’t like what I do but watch everything I’m doing — you’re still a fan.”
The Hensel sisters, born and raised in Minnesota, originally appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1996 to discuss their experiences as dicephalus conjoined twins.
In 2012, they shared their lives in an eight-part TLC reality series, “Abby & Brittany.”
“People have been curious about us since we were born, for obvious reasons,” the twins said in the first episode.
“But our parents never let us use that as an excuse. We were raised to believe we could do anything we wanted to do.”
The twins said in a documentary made when they were teenagers that they planned on becoming mothers later in life, according to the Telegraph.
“Yeah, we are going to be mums one day, but we don’t want to talk about how it’s going to work yet,” Abby said at the time.
They were born with the rare condition that involves two heads on a single body with one genital system, two, three or four arms, two hearts and two legs.
The twins share a bloodstream and all organs below the waist.
Abby controls their right arm and leg and Brittany controls the left side.
Abby and Brittany’s parents, Patty and Mike Hensel, opted out of separation surgery because doctors said there was little chance the girls would survive the operation, “Today” reported.
“How could you pick between the two?” their father, Mike, said during a 2001 interview with Time magazine.
