22-year-old conjoined twin sisters Carmen and Lupita Andrade have opened up about their experiences sharing one boyfriend.
In an interview with Today.com, the two women outlined the difficulties of just one of them dating despite sharing a pelvis, reproductive system, and even bloodstream. They both have their own set of arms, but they only control one leg each. Lupita says that she’s asexual, but she doesn’t want that to get in the way of Carmen dating and eventually settling down.
“I met my boyfriend, Daniel, on [the dating app] Hinge in October 2020,” shared Carmen. “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. I knew right off the bat that Daniel was different from the others, because he didn’t lead with a question about my condition.”
Carmen and Daniel have been together for over two years now. Carmen said that she sometimes feels guilty about wanting to spend so much time with her boyfriend, so she’ll often let her sister choose where they go out to dinner. "Both Daniel and I love kids, but we don’t want any of our own. I like being a dog mom!" added Carmen. "Lupita and I can’t get pregnant, we have endometriosis and we’re also on a hormone blocker that prevents us from menstruating."
Carmen and Lupita moved from Mexico to the United States when they were babies. While they get along very well, they admitted that it’s “not all rainbows and sunshine.” They noted that they often “absorb” each others’ feelings. “I can feel when Carmen is anxious or about to cry,” said Lupita. “It’s that same stomach drop.” They noted that if they were to have separation surgery, one or both of them could die as a result because they share internal organs.
The sisters have been on social media for years now, and they hope to normalize conjoined twins by sharing their experiences. “We do get some nasty comments," said Carmen. "A lot of people aren’t used to people with disabilities setting boundaries or creating boundaries when it comes to their disability. We get a lot of questions about sex, and how we go to the bathroom and stuff like that. But you have to remember: We’re not just conjoined twins, we’re people.”
