Michelle and Lavinia Osbourne are twins with different fathers (Picture: Emma Lynch / BBC)
A DNA test revealed a pair of twin girls have different fathers in a first-time discovery.
Michelle and Lavinia Osbourne are thought to be the first set of twins to not share paternal lineage.
The pair, aged 49, were born minutes apart from the same womb, but have since discovered they are in fact half-sisters as opposed to biological twins.
Known as heteropaternal superfecundation, the phenomenon occurs when two or more eggs are fertilised by sperms produced by different men.
It is such a rare event that only 20 such cases have been recorded globally, with the Osbourne sisters the first such instance documented in the UK.
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Lavinia told BBC Radio 4 series The Gift the revelation was a devastation, with her twin sister being on few constants during her childhood, during which the pair were passed between different carers.
Michelle, on the other hand, was more matter-of-fact.
She told the BBC the unique occurrence felt ‘super odd’ but ‘made sense’.
The pair explained their mother told them when they were young their father was called ‘James’.
Their mother, who gave birth to them at just 19 years old in Nottingham, was absent from much of their childhood as well.
At five years old, Michelle and Lavinia were sent to stay with a friend’s mother, to whom they affectionately referred as ‘Grandma’.
They were both reunited with their mother at ten, but were taken apart again within a few years when they were sent to live at a foster home.
Lavinia recalled: ‘Physically and emotionally, she was always out of reach.’
What is heteropaternal superfecundation?
Heteropaternal superfecundation occurs when two or more of a woman’s ova released in the same menstrual cycle are fertilised by sperms donated by different men.
It is an extremely rare phenomenon, with only 20 cases recorded worldwide, just one in the UK.
Unlike a regular multiple birth, twins conceived through heteropaternal superfecundation are in fact half siblings as they only share a mother.
In 2015, a judge in New Jersey ruled in favour of a father arguing he should only have to pay for one of two twins, as the other was not his biological child.
However questions began to arise when the twins finally tracked down James.
While Lavinia believed she recognised him, Michelle was convinced he wasn’t her father after seeing a photo of him.
Her suspicions were confirmed following a DNA test in February 2022, which showed her father was in fact called Alex, who have battled with an addiction to drugs and alcohol.
She later met him face-to-face but, despite bearing a close physical resemblance, she concluded she didn’t want to keep him in her life.
But Lavinia’s DNA test also showed she had no biological connection to James.
The twins eventually tracked Lavinia’s lineage to a man called Arthur living in West London.
He explained their mother had ‘knocked on my door’ crying and at a time of need.
Despite their different origins, Michelle and Lavinia insist their bond will never be broken.
‘We’re always going to have a closeness that can’t be broken’, said Lavinia.
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