Conjoined twins, 22-year-old Lupita and Carmen Andrade, recently opened up about what it’s like to live their lives fused together — and the common misconceptions about their dating lives and beyond.
The twins, who were born in Mexico but grew up in Connecticut, share a pelvis, a reproductive system, a liver, and a bloodstream, they told Today.com. They each have one leg; Carmen controls the right one.
“It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. We’ve had a lot of challenges, but we have a great life,” Carmen told the outlet. “We go to movies and concerts [sharing one seat] and we travel on airplanes.”
They explained that they have never tried to have a surgery that would separate them, as it could be fatal for one or even both of them.
When they were little, they had physical therapy to learn how to sit up and work their legs — they took their first steps when they were 4 years old.
But when it comes to dating, they have a bit of a different outlook — Carmen has a boyfriend named Daniel, while Lupita is asexual.
“I never tried to hide the fact that I’m a conjoined twin, which meant I got a lot of messages from guys with fetishes,” she told the outlet.
Carmen met her boyfriend on the dating app Hinge in October 2020, and she said that he set himself apart by not asking her a question about being a conjoined twin to start off their conversation.
Even though she and Daniel are dating, Carmen said they are not sexually intimate with each other. During an interview last year with Jubilee, she described their bond as more of a “close friendship.”
The two have talked about getting engaged in the future, but they want to live together first.
“Daniel and I love kids, but we don’t want any of our own,” she added. “I like being a dog mom! Lupita and I can’t get pregnant, we have endometriosis and we’re also on a hormone blocker that prevents us from menstruating.”
Although Lupita isn’t dating Daniel, Carmen says the two get along “really well.”
“It’s funny because I stay up later than Lupita, but when Daniel sleeps over, I fall asleep quickly — and he stays up talking with her,” Carmen told Today.
She continued, “Sometimes I feel bad because I want to spend so much time with Daniel. So we try to come up with compromises. Like, [Lupita] will choose where we go out to dinner, or what activity we’re going to do.”
But while they may differ in dating, they are very similar in a lot of other areas, like their career aspirations. The two both want to work in the veterinary industry, and Lupita has hopes of becoming a comedy writer as well.
Carmen explained that she and Lupita have the same taste in attire and that one of their neighbours has even been sewing their clothes together since they were 5 years old.
However, the twins make an effort to try to have their own unique looks — for example, Carmen has a septum piercing in her nose.
The two can also feel each other’s feelings — literally.
“I can feel when Carmen is anxious or about to cry,” Lupita revealed. “It’s that same stomach drop.”
Carmen noted that Lupita happens to be “way more observant” than her, like when they went to a store recently and she caught a man filming them, even though he claimed he was really filming his daughter.
“When we were nearly 6, we had a nightmare that we were going to fall off of a plane, and then we literally fell off of our bed,” Carmen explained. “That only happened once, but we can feel the other person’s emotions. That happens all the time.”
Carmen and Lupita admitted that they don’t even get sick of each other.
At the end of a long day, they usually do their own things — for example, Carmen will do some schoolwork and Lupita will listen to music.
Despite their unconventional life, the two are happy. They recall having a very joyful childhood and the same group of friends since they were young.
They’ve also shared their journey as conjoined twins on their TikTok account, @carmenandlupita. They do get their fair share of nasty comments, Carmen said, but also noted that it’s important for people to keep in mind that they’re humans with feelings, too.
