Conjoined Twin Abby Hensel’s Husband Josh Bowling Hit With Paternity Suit Following 2021 Wedding

Conjoined twins Abby Hensel and Brittany Hensel have faced a lot of backlash since going public about Abby’s wedding — and now, her husband, Josh Bowling, is making headlines of his own.

Us Weekly confirmed on Monday, April 1, that Josh’s ex-wife, Annica Bowling, filed a paternity suit in October 2023.

Annica, 33, and Josh, 34, share daughter Isabella, 8, whom they welcomed during their nine-year marriage. After the pair split in April 2019, the exes shared joint custody of Isabella. Annica later welcomed a second daughter in late 2020, which appears to be the child in question. However, the paternity suit doesn’t reveal the identity of the child, as she’s a minor.

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Us confirmed that Annica filed documents in Washington County, Minnesota, requesting that Josh and another man named Gavin Vatnsdal submit their DNA to determine paternity. The lawsuit was submitted two years after military veteran Josh married Abby, 34, in a November 2021 wedding.

Last month, a “genetic test report” was filed with the court, according to documents obtained by Us. There was also a “confidential information form” submitted on March 7, per the report, but the results were not publicly released.

The paternity suit’s latest development came just weeks before news broke that Abby had quietly married Josh in fall 2021.

While Abby, who is the left-side conjoined twin to sister Brittany, did share photos of her special day at the time, her and Josh’s nuptials flew under the radar.

On Wednesday, March 27, the wedding made headlines after Today obtained the public court records confirming the legal ceremony. Abby and Brittany — who are dicephalus conjoined twins that share a bloodstream and their organs below the waist — were subsequently ridiculed for Abby’s marriage and their current lifestyle with Josh.

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“This is a message to all the haters out here,” a voice said in a Friday, March 29, TikTok video, featuring photos of Abby and Brittany with Josh. “If you don’t like what I do but watch everything I’m doing, you’re still a fan.”

The Hansel twins are used to public attention after first appearing on TV in 1996 when they were just 6 years old. The sisters later appeared in the 2006 documentary Joined for Life and the 2007 series Extraordinary People.

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Abby and Brittany costarred in Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn 16 in 2008 before landing the TLC series Abby & Brittany in 2012. The twosome have since graduated from Minnesota’s Bethel College and work as fifth-grade teachers in Brighton, Minnesota.

Although only Abby is married to Josh, both women have expressed a desire to find love and have children.

“Yeah, we’re going to be moms,” Abby said in 2006’s Joined for Life: Abby & Brittany Turn 16. “We haven’t thought about how being moms is going to work yet.”