These twins were born within minutes of each other - but have different dads

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. These twins were born within minutes of each other - but have different dads 9 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Jenny Kleeman Presenter, The Gift Twins Michelle and Lavinia Osbourne have always shared a special connection. But when Lavinia clicked on an email with results of an at-home DNA test in September 2022, she was filled with a sense of dread. "Maybe subconsciously I knew," she says.

Her test results revealed something astonishing: non-identical twins Lavinia and Michelle don't have the same father. They were conceived naturally, grown together in the same womb, and born to the same mother within minutes of each other - but they are half-sisters. Michelle and Lavinia, 49, exist because of an incredibly rare biological process called heteropaternal superfecundation.

The Details

For it to happen, a woman must produce more than one egg during the same cycle, the eggs must be successfully fertilised by sperm from different men, and the resulting embryos must survive the pregnancy. Only around 20 cases have ever been identified worldwide. After months of researching their story for the Radio 4 series, The Gift , I've found that Lavinia and Michelle are the only set of twins with different fathers ever to be documented in the UK.

For Lavinia, the revelation was devastating. She and Michelle had shared a difficult childhood where they were passed around between homes and carers. The only stability the non-identical twins had was each other.

"She was the one thing that belonged to me, the one thing that I was certain about, the one thing that I was sure of," Lavinia says. "And then she wasn't. " But when Lavinia rang her twin to share the news, Michelle felt differently.

What Experts Say

"I wasn't surprised," Michelle says. "I'm still in amazement that this can actually happen – it's super weird, super odd, super rare – but it makes sense. " Michelle and Lavinia's mother was a vulnerable 19-year-old when she gave birth to them in Nottingham in 1976.

"She had suffered abuse at the hands of stepfather," Michelle says. "My mother was in and out of foster care and children's homes throughout her childhood. " Whenever the twin sisters asked who their dad was, their mum always said he was someone called James.

"He wasn't in our life," Michelle continues. Their mother was absent for much of their lives, too. When they were five years old, she got a place to study at university in London, and left her children behind in Nottingham with her best friend's mother, who the twins called "grandma".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.