Overview
- A BBC Radio 4 episode of The Gift brought Michelle and Lavinia Osbourne's story to wider public attention.
- The London-born twins learned through a DNA test that they are half-sisters who share a mother but not a father.
- Clinicians attribute the result to heteropaternal superfecundation, which happens when two eggs in one cycle are fertilized by sperm from different men within about 12 to 24 hours.
- Outlets report this as the first documented case of twins with different fathers in the UK, with only a small number of similar cases known globally.
- After the discovery, both women met their biological fathers, with Lavinia maintaining regular contact and Michelle choosing distance because her father struggles with alcohol and drug use.